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Troop One of the Labrador 


By DILLON WALLACE 

The Ragged Inlet Guards. A Story 

of Adventure in Labrador. Ulus., cloth, 

In Wallace’s latest story a wartime setting is 
given to the fascinating Labrador stage. The four 
“ Inlet Guards ” furnish round after round of excit- 
ing adventures, including the thrilling capture of a 
German wireless station and its whole outfit, while 
their seniors were fighting “over seas.” 

Grit- a- Plenty . A Tale of Fur-Trapping in 

Labrador. Illustrated 

“ For adventure and realism of the healthful 
sort, boys will find it difficult indeed to beat this 
latest story from the. surviving companion of Leon- 
idas Hubbard Jr., the Labrador explorer.” 

— Spokane Chronicle . 

The Gaunt Gray Wolf. Illustrated, 

cloth 

“ « Ungava Bob ’ here makes a welcome reap- 
pearance, and through a series of thrilling adven- 
tures both he and his companion, Shad Trowbridge, 
face danger and hardship with the stiff upper lip of 
‘ gentlemen unafraid.* ” — Christian Work. 

Ungava Bob . A Tale of the Fur Trappers. 

Illustrated 

“ A rarely admirable book for boys— one of the 
most engaging of the sort I have ever read. It is 
an honest story, but as appealing to the hearts and 
imaginations of boys as the unconscientious stories 
commonly offered.” — Norman Duncan. 

The Lure of the Labrador Wild. Illus- 
trations and Maps. 8vo, cloth .... 

The Leonidas Hubbard Jr. Exploring Expedition. 

“ One of the most graphic and moving stories of 
adventure that we have ever'read. Here is a record 
that holds one, as fiction never would, of suffering 
faced and heroism shown, for an ideal that failed, 
by men who did not fail each other.” 

— N. Y. Evening Sun. 






Troop One of the 
Labrador 


By 


DILLON WALLACE 

Author of "Grit A- Plenty," " The Ragged 
Inlet Guards etc., etc. 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

CLYDE FORSYTHE 



New York Chicago 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinburgh 


Copyright, 1920, by 

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 

« 


'-v 



New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
London : 2 1 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh : 75 Princes Street 


§)CI. A605963 


To 

my little daughter 
LEILA ANN 
the sunshine of our hoine 


» Wc care not if the world be wide ; 

Nor South, nor East, nor golden West 
Can match the Northland’s rugged pride. 

The North, the hardy North’s the best ! 
To the North, to the North we go ! 

To the North where the pine trees grow ! 
To the North where the fresh winds blow! 
To the North, to the North, Yo ho ! ” 

— John D. Spence. 


Contents 


I. 

Doctor Joe, Scoutmaster 

. 

9 

II. 

Plans .... 


. 32 

III. 

“ 'Tis the Ghost of Long John ” 

. 43 

IV. 

Shot from Behind . 


. 53 

V. 

Lem Horn’s Silver Fox . 


60 

VI. 

The Tracks in the Sand 


• 79 

VII. 

The Mystery of the Boat 


. 92 

VIII. 

Trailing the Half-Breed 


. 101 

IX. 

Eli Surprises Indian Jake 


. 106 

X. 

The End of Eli’s Hunt . 


. 114 

XI. 

The Letter in the Cairn 


. 124 

XII. 

The Hidden Cache . 


. 139 

XIII. 

Surprised and Captured 


. 151 

XIV. 

The Two Desperados 


. 162 

XV. 

Missing ! . 


. 167 

XVI. 

Bound and Helpless 


. 174 

XVII. 

Lost in a Blizzard . 


. 185 

XVIII. 

A Place to “ Bide ” 


. 195 

XIX. 

Searching the White Wilderness 202 

XX. 

0 Wolves ! " Yelled Andy 


. 211 

XXI. 

The Alarm in the Night 


. 217 

XXII. 

The Immutable Law of God 


. 225 


5 



Illustrations 

On the Right Seathed the Devil’s Tea Kettle Frontispiece 

Facing page 

It Was Dr. Joe Beyond a Doubt ! . . . . io 

Stretched Upon the Floor Lay Lem Horn . . 60 

"You Stand Where You Is and Drop Your Gun” 112' 
It Was a Fight to the Death . . . . 2i8 u 


7 



I 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 


D 


k OCTOR JOE ! Doctor Joe's cornin’ ! He 
just turned the p’int! ” 

Jamie Angus burst into the cabin at 
The Jug breathlessly shouting this joyful news, and 
then rushed out again with David and Andy at his 
heels. 

“ Oh, Doctor Joe ! It can't be Doctor Joe, now ! 
Can it, Pop ? It must be some one else Jamie sees ! 
It can't be Doctor Joe, whatzvz r ! " exclaimed Mar- 
garet in a great flutter of excitement. 

“Jamie's keen at seein'! He'd know anybody 
as far as he can see un ! " assured Thomas, no less 
excited at the news than was Margaret. “ But 'tis 
strange that he's cornin' back so soon ! ” 

Of course Margaret, who was laying the table 
for supper, must needs follow the boys and 
Thomas, who was leaning over the wash basin re- 
moving the grime of the day's toil, snatched the 
towel from its peg behind the door and, drying his 
hands as he ran, sacrificing dignity to haste, fol- 
lowed Margaret, who had joined the three boys at 
the end of the jetty which served as a boat landing. 

9 


10 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


A skiff had just entered the narrow channel 
which connected The Jug, as the bight where the 
Anguses lived was called, with the wider waters of 
Eskimo Bay. There could be no doubt, even at 
that distance, that the tall man standing aft and 
manipulating the long skulling oar, was Doctor Joe. 
As the little group gathered on the jetty he took 
off his hat and waved it high above his head. It 
was Doctor Joe beyond a doubt ! The boys waved 
their caps and shouted at the top of their lusty 
young lungs, Margaret, undoing her apron, waved 
it and added her voice to the chorus, and Thomas, 
quite carried away by the excitement, waved the 
towel and in a great bellowing voice shouted a 
louder welcome than any of them. 

There was no happier or better contented family 
on all The Labrador than the family of Thomas 
Angus, though they had their trials and ups and 
downs and worries like any other family in or out 
of Labrador. 

“ Everybody must expect a bit o’ trouble and 
worry now and again/’ Thomas would say when 
things did not go as they should. “If we never 
had un, and livin’ were always fine and clear, we’d 
forget to be thankful for our blessin’s. We has t* 
have a share o’ trouble in our lives, and here and 
there a hard knock whatever, t’ know how fine the 
good things are and rightly enjoy un when they 
come. And in the end troubles never turn out as 
bad as we’re expectin’, by half. First and last 



I 


IT WAS A FIGHT TO THE DEATH 





DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 


11 


there's a wonderful sight more good times than bad 
uns for all of us." 

Thomas had reason to be proud and thankful. 
Jamie could see as well as ever he could, and it was 
all because of Doctor Joe and his wonderful opera- 
tion on Jamie's eyes when it seemed certain the lad 
was to become blind. Through the skill of Doctor 
Joe, Jamie’s eyes were every whit as keen as 
David’s and Andy's, and there were no keener eyes 
in the Bay than theirs. 

David was now nearly seventeen and Andy was 
fifteen — brawny, broad-shouldered lads who had 
already faced more hardships and had more adven- 
tures to their credit than fall to many a man in a 
whole lifetime. In that brave land adventures are 
to be found at every turn. They bob up unexpect- 
edly, and the man or boy who meets them success- 
fully must know the ways of the wilderness and 
must be self-reliant and resourceful, must have grit 
a-plenty and a stout heart. 

Margaret kept house for the little family, a re- 
sponsibility that had been thrust upon her, and 
which she cheerfully accepted, when her mother 
was laid to rest and she was a wee lass of twelve. 
Now she was eighteen and as tidy and cheerful a 
little housekeeper as could be found on the coast, 
and as pretty too, in manner as well as in feature. 
“ 'Tis the manner that counts," said Thomas, and 
he declared that there was “ no prettier lass to be 
found on the whole Labrador." 


12 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


Doctor Joe, whose real name was Joseph Carver, 
was their nearest neighbour at Break Cove, ten 
miles down Eskimo Bay. He had come to the 
coast nine years before, a mysterious stranger, 
nervous and broken in health. Thomas gave him 
shelter at The Jug, helped him build his cabin at 
Break Cove and taught him the ways of the land 
and how to set his traps. Doctor Joe became a 
trapper like his neighbours, and in time, with 
wholesome living in the out-of-doors, regained his 
health and came to love his adopted country and its 
rugged life. 

No one knew then that Joseph Carver was indeed 
a doctor, but he was so handy with bandages and 
medicines that the folk of the Bay recognized his 
skill and soon fell, by common consent, to calling 
him “ Doctor Joe.” 

It was a year before our story begins that Jamie 
had first complained of a mist in his eyes. With 
passing weeks the mist thickened, and one day 
Doctor Joe examined the eyes and announced that 
only a delicate and serious operation could save the 
lad’s sight. This demanded that Jamie be taken to 
a hospital in New York where a specialist might 
operate. It was an expensive undertaking. 
Neither Thomas nor Doctor Joe had the necessary 
money, but Thomas hoped to realize enough from 
his winter’s trapping in the interior and Doctor Joe 
was to add the proceeds of his own winter’s work 
to the fund. Then Thomas broke his leg. Doctor 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 


13 


Joe must needs remain at The Jug to care for him, 
and there seemed no hope for Jamie but a life of 
darkness. 

But David was confident that he could take his 
father’s place on the trails, and with some persua- 
sion, for the need was desperate, Thomas con- 
sented that David and Andy should spend the 
winter in the great interior wilderness with no 
other companion than Indian Jake, a half-breed. 

That was an experience worthy the stoutest 
heart. Through long dreary months they faced 
the sub-arctic cold and fearful blizzards that swept 
the wilderness, following silent trails over wide 
white wastes or through the depths of dark forests, 
and falling upon many a wild adventure that tried 
their mettle a hundred times. It was a man’s job, 
but they both made good, and that is something 
to be proud of — to make good at the job you 
tackle. 

Jamie had grit too, but grit alone could not save 
his eyes. The mist thickened more rapidly than 
Doctor Joe had expected it would, and there came 
a time when Jamie could scarcely see at all. Then 
it was that Doctor Joe announced one day before 
the return of David and Andy from the trails, that 
the operation could be no longer delayed if Jamie’s 
eyesight was to be saved, and that to attempt to 
delay it until the ice cleared from the coast and the 
mail boat came to bear him away to New York 
would be fatal. 


14 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

After making this announcement, Doctor Joe re- 
vealed the fact that he had once been a great eye 
surgeon. With Thomas’s consent he offered to 
perform the operation on Jamie’s eyes. Thomas 
had unbounded faith in his friend. Doctor Joe 
operated and Jamie’s sight was saved. 

In curing Jamie, Doctor Joe discovered that he 
himself was cured, and that he was again in pos- 
session of all his former skill. It was quite natu- 
ral, therefore, that he should wish to resume the 
practice of surgery. He was an indifferent trap- 
per, and the living that he made following the 
trails amounted to a bare existence. He decided, 
therefore, that it was his duty to himself to return 
to the work for which, in long years of study, he 
had been trained. 

Six weeks before Doctor Joe had sailed away on 
the mail boat from Fort Pelican, bound for New 
York, that far distant, mysterious, wonderful city 
of which he had told so many marvellous tales. 
Thomas had grave doubts that they would ever see 
him again, though he had said that he would some 
day return to visit his friends at The Jug and to see 
his own little deserted cabin at Break Cove, where 
he had spent so many lonely but withal profitable 
years, for it was here that he regenerated and re- 
built his broken health. He had good reason to love 
the place and he was quite sure he had no better or 
truer friends in all the world than Thomas Angus 
and his family. 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 15 

“ Thomas/’ said he at parting, “ if I had the 
means to support myself I would stay here on The 
Labrador and be doctor to the people that need me, 
for there are folk enough that need a doctor’s help 
up and down the coast. But I’m a poor man, and 
if I stopped here I’d have to make my living as a 
trapper, and you know how poor a trapper I’ve 
been all these years. Back in New York I can do 
much good, and there I can live as I was reared to 
live. But I’ll not forget you, Thomas, and some 
day I’ll come to see you.” 

“ I’m not doubtin’ ’tis best you go and the Lard’s 
will,” said Thomas. “ But we’ll be missin’ you 
sore, Doctor Joe. I scarce knows how we’ll make 
out without you. ’Twill seem strange — almost 
like you were dead, I’m fearin’.” 

“ Thomas,” and Doctor Joe’s voice trembled 
with emotion, “ there’s no one in the wide world 
nearer my affections than you and the boys and 
Margaret. It hurts me to go, but it’s best I should. 
I might scratch along here for a few years, but I 
was not born to the work and the time would come 
when I’d be a burden on some one, and it would 
make me unhappy. I know that I’ll wish often 
enough to be back here with you at The Jug.” 

“ You’d never be a burden, whatever ! ” Thomas 
declared, quite shocked at the suggestion. “ I 
feels beholden to you, Doctor Joe. There’s nary 
a thing I could ever do to make up to you for savin’ 
Jamie’s eyes. You made un as good as new. 


16 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


He’d ha’ been stone blind now if ’tweren’t for you 
— and the mercy o’ God.” 

“ The mercy of God,” Doctor Joe repeated rev- 
erently. 

And here at the end of six weeks was Doctor 
Joe back again! What wonder that Thomas An- 
gus and his family were quite beside themselves 
with joy, shouting themselves hoarse down there 
on the jetty. 

And presently, when the skiff drew alongside, 
and Doctor Joe stepped out upon the jetty, he was 
quite overwhelmed with the welcome he received. 

“ Well, Thomas,” he said as they walked up to 
the cabin with Jamie clinging to one of his hands 
and Andy to the other, “ here I am back again, as 
you see. I couldn’t stay away from you dear, 
good people. I may as well confess, I was home- 
sick for you before I reached New York, and I’m 
back to stay. I found my fortune had been made 
while I was here, and now I can do as I please.” 

“ Oh, that’s fine now ! ” exclaimed Margaret. 
" ’Tis fine if you’re to stay ! ” 

“ We were missin’ you sore,” said Thomas. 
“ ’Tis like the Lard’s blessin’ to have you back at 
The Jug!” 

“And there’s good old Roaring Brook ! ” Doc- 
tor Joe stopped for a moment, with half closed 
eyes, to listen to the rush of water over the rocks, 
where Roaring Brook tumbled down into The Jug. 
“ It’s the sweetest music I’ve heard since I left 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 


17 


here! And the smell of the spruce trees! And 
such a scene! Thomas, my friend, it's a rugged 
land where we live, but it’s God’s own land, just as 
He made it, beautiful, and undefiled by man! ” 
Doctor Joe turned about and stretched his right 
arm toward the south. Before them lay the shim- 
mering placid waters of The Jug, reaching away to 
join the wider, greater waters of Eskimo Bay. In 
the distance, beyond the Bay, the snow-capped 
peaks of the Mealy Mountains stood in silent maj- 
esty, now reflecting the last brilliant rays of the 
setting sun. As they tarried, watching them, the 
light faded and shafts of orange and red rose out 
of the west. The waters became a throbbing ex- 
panse of colour, and the woods on the Point, at the 
entrance to The Jug, sank into purple. 

“ ’Tis a bit of the light of heaven that the Lard 
lets out of evenin’s for us to see,” said Jamie, and 
perhaps Jamie was right. 

“ You must be rare hungry, now,” observed 
Thomas, as they entered the cabin. “ Margaret 
were just puttin’ supper on when Jamie sights you 
turnin’ the P’int. ’Twill be ready in a jiffy.” 

“ What have you got for us, Margaret? ” asked 
Doctor Joe. “ I believe I am hungry for the good 
things you cook.” 

“ Fried trout, sir,” said Margaret. 

“Fried trout!” Doctor Joe rolled his eyes in 
mock ecstasy. “ It couldn’t have been better ! ” 

“ You always says that, whatever,” laughed 


18 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


Margaret. “If ’twere just bread and tea I’m 
thinkin’ you’d like un fine.” 

“But trout!” exclaimed Doctor Joe. “Fresh 
trout are worth five dollars a pound where I’ve 
been — and couldn’t be had for that ! ” 

“ Well, now ! ” said Margaret in astonishment. 
“And we has un so plentiful ! ” 

David lighted a lamp and Thomas renewed the 
fire, which crackled cheerily in the big box stove, 
while everybody talked excitedly and Margaret set 
on the table a big dish of smoking fried trout, a 
heaping plate of bread, and poured the tea. 

“ Set in! Set in, Doctor Joe ! ” Thomas invited. 
And when they drew up to the table, with 
Thomas at one end and Margaret at the other, and 
Doctor Joe and Jamie at Thomas’s right, and 
David and Andy at his left, Thomas devoutly gave 
thanks for the return of their friend and asked a 
blessing upon the bounty provided. 

“ Help yourself, now, and don’t be afraid of 
un,” Thomas admonished, passing the dish of trout 
to Doctor Joe. 

“A real banquet,” Doctor Joe declared, as he 
helped himself liberally. “ I’ve eaten in some fine 
places since I’ve been away, but I’ve had no such 
feast as this! And there’s no one in the whole 
world can fry trout like Margaret ! ” 

“You always says that, sir,” and Margaret’s 
face glowed with pleasure at the compliment. 

“ ’Tis true ! ” declared Doctor Joe. “ ’Tis true ! ” 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 19 

“ I’m wonderin , now about the trout, v remarked 
David. 

“ What you wondering? ” asked Doctor Joe. 

“ How folks get along with no trout to eat off 
where you've been, sir.” 

“ There are men who go far out from the city 
and fish in the streams for trout, just for the sport 
of catching them,” explained Doctor Joe. “ They 
will tramp all day along brooks, and feel lucky if 
they catch a dozen little fellows so small we’d not 
look at them here. But it is only the few who do 
it for sport that ever get any at all, and there are 
hundreds of people there who never even saw a 
trout, they catch so very few of them.” 

“ ’Twould seem like a waste o’ time,” remarked 
Thomas, “ if they catches so few. I’d never walk 
all day for a dozen trout unless I was wonderful 
hard up for grub. If I were wantin’ fish so bad 
I’d set a net for whitefish or salmon, or if there 
were cod grounds about I’d gig for cod, though 
salmon or cod or whitefish would never be takin’ 
the place o’ good fresh trout with me.” 

“ It’s not altogether for the trout the sportsmen 
tramp the streams all day,” laughed Doctor Joe. 
“ They prize the trout they get as a great delicacy, 
to be sure, but it’s the joy of getting out into the 
open that pays them for the effort. I’ve done it 
myself. They get plenty of sea fish, they buy 
them at the shops.” 

“ I never were thinkin’ o’ that,” said Thomas. 


20 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


“ I’m thinkin’, now, that’s where all the salmon we 
salts down and sells to the Post goes.” 

The boys were vastly interested, and asked many 
questions, which Doctor Joe answered with infinite 
patience, concerning the various kinds of fish peo- 
ple bought in the shops, and how the fish were 
caught and shipped to the shops to be sold fresh. 

“And you’ll stay now? You’ll not be leavin’ 
The Labrador again?” asked Thomas, after sup- 
per. 

“Aye,” said Doctor Joe, “ I’ve elected to be a 
Labradorman.” Then, turning to the boys, he 
suggested: “ Lads, there are a lot of things in that 
skiff of mine. I wish you’d bring them in. Will 
you do it while your father and I visit ? ” 

The boys were not only glad but eager to do it, 
for there were doubtless many surprises for them- 
selves in the skiff, and with one accord the three 
hurried out. 

“ Years ago, Thomas,” said Doctor Joe, when 
the boys were gone, “ in my prosperous days in 
New York I invested a little money in a mining 
property. Shortly after I made the investment it 
was said the ore had run out, and I believed my 
money was lost. When I returned to New York 
this summer I found that more ore had been found 
later, and the mine had earned me a lot of money. 
I invested what was due me in such a way that it 
will bring me an income each year sufficient to pro- 
vide me with all I shall ever need.” 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 


21 


“ Oh, but that’s fine now ! ” said Thomas. 

“ Thomas,” Doctor Joe continued, “ 1 would not 
have been able to enjoy this had it not been for 
your kindness to me years ago, when I came first 
to The Labrador a man of broken health. If you 
had not offered me your friendship then I would 
have died an invalid in poverty. 

“ I’ve thought of this a thousand times. I be- 
lieve God sent me here. I only knew then that I 
came because I sought a secluded spot on the earth 
where I could find relief from turmoil. Now, I 
believe He guided me to The Labrador and to The 
Jug to you. He had something for me to do in the 
world, and this was His way of saving me. 

“ When Jamie needed me I was here, and be- 
cause you had befriended me I was prepared with 
God’s help and with my skill and training to re- 
store Jamie’s eyesight. There are others on the 
coast who need a doctor’s skill just as Jamie needed 
it, and they have no one to help them. I have de- 
cided that I shall be doctor to the people. If I can 
help the folk, as I am sure I can, I’ll be happy in 
the knowledge that I’m making some little return 
for the great deal that you have done for me.” 

“ I were never doin’ much for you, Doctor Joe — 
just what one man would always do for another,” 
Thomas protested. “ But ’twill be a blessin’ to the 
folk of The Labrador to have you doctor un ! We 
all need doctors often enough when there’s none to 
be had, and folks die for the need of un.” 


22 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ Yes, folks die here for the need of a doctor,” 
Doctor Joe agreed, “ and I hope I may be the 
means of saving lives and giving relief.” 

The three boys broke in upon them with their 
arms full of packages. 

“ They’s a lot more! ” exclaimed Jamie, deposit- 
ing his load upon the floor. 

" Perhaps we had better help them, Thomas,” 
suggested Doctor Joe, rising. 

“ Oh, no, sir,” Jamie protested. “ Let us bring 
un up ! ” 

And so said David and Andy also, and they 
quickly had the contents of the skiff transferred to 
the cabin, and the exciting process of opening the 
packages began. 

The first to be opened was for Margaret, and it 
contained many pretty and useful things, includ- 
ing two neat, substantial warm dresses, finer 
than any Margaret had ever before possessed or 
seen. Her eyes sparkled as she held them up 
for inspection, and she exclaimed over and over 
again: 

“ Oh, how wonderful pretty they is ! ” 

For the boys there were innumerable gifts, dear 
to boys’ hearts, including a compass and a watch 
for each. For Thomas there was a fine pair of 
field-glasses, a compass and a very fine watch in- 
deed, and he was as pleased and happy as the 
others. 

“ The glasses’ll be a wonderful help t’ me in 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 


23 


huntinV' he declared. “ When I climbs hills for 
a look around I can see deer that I’d sure to be 
missin’ with no glasses. I’m not doubtin’ the com- 
pass’ll come in handy now and again in thick 
weather.” 

Then there was a big box of goodies. There 
were such candies as they had never dreamed of — 
oranges and big red-cheeked apples. Even Thomas 
had never before in his life tasted an orange or an 
apple, and they all declared that they had never im- 
agined that anything could be so good. It was 
quite astonishing to learn that in the great world 
from which Doctor Joe had come there were peo- 
ple who ate oranges and apples every day of their 
lives if they wished them. 

“ ’Tis strange the way the Lard fixes things,” 
observed Thomas. “ Here now we never saw the 
like of oranges and apples before in all our lives, 
but we has plenty of trout, and there are folks out 
there that has no trout but they all has oranges and 
apples. We has so many trout we forgets how 
fine they is, and what a blessin’ ’tis we has un. 
And I’m thinkin’ ’tis the same with them folks 
about the oranges and apples.” 

“ Yes,” agreed Doctor Joe, “ it’s only when 
things are taken away from us that we really ap- 
preciate them. Jamie, no doubt, appreciates his 
eyes much more than he would have done had the 
m r ~t never clouded them.” 

“ Aye, ’tis so,” said Thomas. 


24 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“I dare say,” Doctor Joe suggested, “ that 
you’ve never eaten potatoes or onions ? ” 

“ No,” said Thomas, “ I’ve heard of un but I 
never eats un. I never had any to eat.” 

“ Well,” announced Doctor Joe, “ I’ve had sev- 
eral sacks of potatoes and a sack of onions and 
two barrels of apples shipped to Fort Pelican with 
a quantity of other goods. We’ll have to go with 
the big boat for them.” 

The boys and Margaret were quite beside them- 
selves with the wonder of it all, and Thomas was 
little less excited. 

“ We’ll go for un to-morrow or the next day 
whatever,” said Thomas. 

There was one box still unopened, and the three 
boys were eyeing it expectantly, when Doctor Joe 
exclaimed : 

“ Here we’ve left till the last the most important 
thing of all. Get an ax, David, and we’ll knock 
the cover off this box.” 

David had the ax in a jiffy, and when Doctor 
Joe removed the cover the box was found to be 
filled with books. 

“ O-h-h ! ” breathed the boys in unison. 

“ ’Tis fine! Oh, I’ve been wishin’ and wishin’ 
for books t’ look at and read ! ” exclaimed Mar- 
garet. 

Doctor Joe had taught them all to read and 
write in the years he had been with them, an ac- 
complishment that not every boy and girl on The 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 25 

Labrador possessed, for there were no schools 
there. 

“ There are some books to study and some to 
read. There are story books and books about 
birds and flowers and animals. And here is some- 
thing that I know will please the boys, ,, said Doc- 
tor Joe, drawing from the box six paper-bound 
volumes. “ There’s an interesting story attached 
to these books that I must tell you before you look 
at them, and then we’ll go through them together. 

“ One day I was walking in a park in New 
York. 

“ Suddenly I heard a crashing noise, and I hur- 
ried in the direction in which I heard the noise, and 
turning a corner saw an automobile lying on its 
side. Some boys wearing khaki-coloured uni- 
forms, very much like soldiers’ uniforms, had al- 
ready reached the wreck, and before I came up 
with them had rescued two injured men. I never 
saw more efficient or prompt service than those 
boys were giving the poor men, who were both 
badly hurt. They had the men stretched out upon 
the grass. One had a severed artery in his arm, 
where the arm had been cut upon the broken glass 
wind shield of the automobile. The man’s blood 
was pouring in great spurts through the wound, 
but the boys were already adjusting a tourniquet, 
for which they used a handkerchief, and in a min- 
ute they had the bleeding stopped, as well as I 
could have done it. I’ve no doubt they saved the 


26 


TEOOP CXNE OF THE LABRADOR 


man’s life, for without prompt help he’d have bled 
to death in a short time. 

“ The other man was cut and bruised, and the 
boys were making him as comfortable as possible 
until an ambulance came to take him to a hospital. 
There was really nothing I could do that the boys 
had not already done promptly and remarkably 
well. 

“ The instant they had discovered the accident 
two boys had run away to summon an ambulance 
and to notify the police, and in a little while an 
ambulance with a surgeon and two policemen came 
and took the men away. 

“ The boys were only about Andy’s age, and I 
wondered at their training and efficiency. When 
the ambulance had gone with the injured men I 
walked a little way with the boys, and learned that 
they belonged to a wonderful organization called 
4 Boy Scouts.’ I had heard of Boy Scouts, but I 
supposed it was one of the ordinary clubs where 
boys got together just for play. 

“ I was so much interested that I looked up the 
head office of the Boy Scouts, and asked questions 
about them. Then I bought these copies of the 
Boy Scout’s Handbook. They tell about the 
things the scouts do, and how a boy may become a 
scout. I knew you chaps would be so interested 
you would each want a book, so I bought a half- 
dozen copies. The extra books we can give to 
other boys up the Bay.” 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 27 

“ Could we be scouts ? ” asked Andy, breath- 
lessly. 

“ Yes, to be sure! ” Doctor Joe smiled. 

“ ’Twould be rare fun, now! ” exclaimed David. 

“All of us scouts, just like the boys in New 
York?” Jamie asked, his face aglow. 

“ Yes,” answered Doctor Joe. “ I knew you 
chaps would like to be scouts. We’ll organize a 
troop, and we’ll call it Troop One of The Labra- 
dor. There are Boy Scouts of America, and Boy 
Scouts of England, and Boy Scouts of nearly every 
country in the world except The Labrador. We’ll 
be the Boy Scouts of The Labrador, and become a 
part of the great army of scouts. It’ll be some- 
thing to be proud of.” 

“ How’ll we do it ? ” asked David. 

“ I’ll be leader, or scoutmaster as they call the 
leader,” explained Doctor Joe. “ These books ex- 
plain all about the things we’re to do. 

“ Before you become tenderfoot scouts you’ll 
have to learn some things,” Doctor Joe continued, 
after looking through one of the Handbooks, until 
he found the proper page. “ You can tie all the 
knots already. You do that every day. But there 
are plenty of boys, and men too, where I came 
from that can’t even tie the ordinary square knot. 

“ You’ll have to learn the oath and law. You 
live pretty close to the requirements of the law 
now, but it’ll be necessary to learn it, and I’ll ex- 
plain then what each law means. You’ll have to 


28 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


learn what the scout badge stands for and how it's 
made up, and other things.” 

Doctor Joe carefully marked the necessary pages 
and references. 

“ Now about the flag,” said Doctor Joe. 
“ You’ll have to learn about the formation of the 
flag and what it stands for. This book is for the 
Boy Scouts of America, and the flag it refers to is 
the United States flag. I’m an American, but you 
chaps are living in British territory and you’re 
British subjects, so you’ll have to learn about the 
British flag or Union Jack, as it’s called, for that’s 
your flag. 

“ The Union Jack is the national flag of the 
whole British Empire. The English flag was orig- 
inally a red cross on a white field. This is called 
the flag of St. George. In the year 1606, three 
hundred years ago, King James the First added to 
it the banner of Scotland, which was a blue flag 
with a white cross, called St. Andrew’s Cross, lying 
upon the blue from corner to corner — that is diag- 
onally.” 

Doctor Joe opened his travelling bag and drew 
forth two small flags, one the Stars and Stripes 
and the other the British Union Jack. 

“ I nearly forgot about these,” said he, spread- 
ing the flags upon the table. “ This is the flag of 
my country,” and he caressed the United States flag 
affectionately. “ I love it as you should love your 
flag. The Union Jack is the emblem of the great 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 29 

British Empire, of which you are a part. It is one 
of the greatest and best countries in the world to 
live in. To be a British subject is something to be 
proud of indeed.” 

“ Aye,” broke in Thomas, “ ’tis that, now.” 

“ Yes,” continued Doctor Joe, “ I want you to 
be as proud of it as I am that I’m a citizen of the 
United States, and I’m so proud of it I wouldn’t 
change for any other country in the world. When 
I reached St. Johns and saw the American flag fly- 
ing over the office of the United States Consulate, 
my eyes filled with tears. I hadn’t seen that old 
flag for years, and I stood in the street for an hour 
doing nothing but look at it and think of all it rep- 
resents. It makes my blood tingle just to touch it. 
You chaps must feel the same toward the British 
flag, for that’s your flag. 

“ Now let me show you how the flag is made 
up,” and Doctor Joe proceeded to trace St. 
George’s Cross and St. Andrew’s Cross, explaining 
them again as he did so. “ In the year 1801 an- 
other banner was added. This was the Banner of 
St. Patrick of Ireland. St. Patrick’s Cross was a 
red diagonal cross on a white field, and here you 
see it.” 

Doctor Joe traced it on the flag. 

“ There,” he went on, “ you have the British 
flag complete. No one knows exactly why it is 
called the * Jack,’ but it may have been because in 
the old days, the English knights, when they went 


80 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

out to fight their battles, wore a jacket over their 
armour with the St. George’s Cross upon it, so it 
would be known to what nation they belonged. 
This jacket was sometimes called a ‘ jack ’ for 
short. 

“ The Union Jack did not become a complete 
flag as we have it to-day until the year 1801, when 
St. Patrick's Cross was added to it. The Stars 
and Stripes, the flag of my country, was first made 
in 1776, and on June 14, 1777, it was adopted 
by the United States Congress as the national 
emblem, so you see it is even older than the 
British flag. The flags of all nations in the world 
have changed since 1777 excepting only the United 
States flag, and every American is proud of the 
fact that his flag is older than the flag of any other 
Christian nation in the world." 

The boys, and Thomas and Margaret also, were 
fascinated with Doctor Joe’s brief story of the 
flags. They were quite excited with the thought 
that they were to be a part of the great army of 
Boy Scouts, and to do the same things that other 
boys in far-away lands were doing, and the other 
boys that they had never seen seemed suddenly 
very much nearer to them and more like themselves 
than they had ever seemed before. 

The three buried their noses in the Handbook, 
now and again asking Doctor Joe questions. They 
were so excited and so interested, indeed, that they 
could scarcely lay the books aside when Thomas 


DOCTOR JOE, SCOUTMASTER 


31 


announced that it was time to “ turn in,” and Andy 
declared he could hardly wait for morning when 
they could be at them again. 

And so it came about that Troop 1, Boy Scouts 
of The Labrador, was organized, and in the nature 
of things the troop was destined to meet many 
adventures and unusual experiences. 


II 


PLANS 

T HE cabin at The Jug had three rooms. 
There was a square living-room, entered 
through an enclosed porch on its western 
grade. At the end of the living-room opposite the 
entrance were two doors, one leading to Mar- 
garet’s room, the other to the room occupied by 
the boys. Thomas himself slept in a bunk, resem- 
bling a ship’s bunk, built against the north wall. 

The furnishings of the living-room consisted of 
a home-made table, a big box stove, three home- 
made chairs and some chests, which served the 
double purpose of storage places for clothing and 
seats. A dish closet was built against the wall at 
the left of the entrance, and between two windows 
on the south side of the room, which looked out 
upon The Jug, was a shelf upon which Thomas 
kept his Bible and Margaret her sewing basket — a 
little basket which she had woven herself from 
native grasses. Behind the stove was a bench, 
upon which stood a bucket of water and the family 
wash basin, and over the basin hung a towel for 
general family use. 


3 * 


PLANS 


33 


Pasted upon the walls were cuts from old news- 
papers and magazines. There were no other deco- 
rations than these cuts and snowy muslin curtains 
at the windows, but the floor, table, chairs — all the 
woodwork, indeed — were scoured to immaculate 
whiteness with sand and soap, and everything was 
spotlessly clean and tidy, and despite the austere 
simplicity of the room and its furnishings it pos- 
sessed an indescribable atmosphere of cozy com- 
fort. 

Doctor Joe’s bed was spread upon the floor. It 
was still candle-light when he was awakened by 
Thomas building a fire in the stove, for in this land 
of stern living there is no lolling in bed of morn- 
ings. 

“ Good-morning, Thomas,” Doctor Joe greeted 
with a yawn and a stretch as he sat up. 

“ Marnin’,” said Thomas. 

“ How’s the morning, Thomas, fair for our trip 
to Fort Pelican? ” 

“Aye, ’tis a fine marnin’,” announced Thomas, 
“ but I were thinkin’ ’twould be better to wait over 
till to-morrow for the trip. After your long voy- 
age ’twould be a bit trying for you to turn back to- 
day to Fort Pelican without restin’ up, and I’m not 
doubtin’ a day whatever’ll do no harm to the po- 
taters and things.” 

“ I believe you’re right, Thomas,” and Doctor 
Joe spoke with evident relief. “ I thought you’d 
be getting ready for the trapping and would like to 


34 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


get the Fort Pelican trip out of the way. We’ll 
put the trip off till to-morrow.” 

Doctor Joe dressed hurriedly, and went out to 
enjoy the cool, crisp morning. Everything was 
white with hoarfrost. The air was charged with 
the perfume of balsam and spruce and other sweet 
odours of the forest. Doctor Joe took long, deep, 
delicious breaths as he looked about him at the 
familiar scene. 

The last stars were fading in the growing light. 
A low mist hung over The Jug, and beyond the 
haze lay the dark, heaving waters of Eskimo Bay. 
In the distance beyond the Bay the high peaks of 
the Mealy Mountains rose out of the gloom, white 
with snow and looming above the dark forest at 
their base in cold and silent majesty. Behind the 
cabin stretched the vast, mysterious, unbounded 
wilderness which held, hidden in its unmeasured 
depths, rivers and lakes and mountains that no 
man, save the wandering Indian, had ever looked 
upon — great solitudes whose silence had remained 
unbroken through the ages. 

“If some of those Boy Scouts could only see 
this! ” exclaimed Doctor Joe. 

“ ’Twere fashioned by the Almighty for com- 
fortable livin’,” said Thomas, who had called Mar- 
garet and the boys and come out unobserved by 
Doctor Joe. “ The’s no better shelter on the coast, 
and no better place for seals and salmon, with 
neighbours handy when we wants to see un, and 


PLANS 


35 


plenty o' room to stretch. ’Tis the finest / ever 
saw, whatever.” 

“Yes, ’tis all of that,” agreed Doctor Joe. 
“ But I wasn’t thinking now of The Jug alone. I 
was thinking of the majestic grandeur of the whole 
scene. I was enjoying the freedom from the noise 
and scramble, the dirt and smoke and smudge of 
the city, with its piles upon piles of ugly buildings, 
and never a breath of such pure air as this to be 
breathed. I was thinking of these fine young 
chaps, the Boy Scouts I saw there, who are trying 
to study God’s big out-of-doors and must content 
themselves with stingy little parks. It’s the love 
of nature that takes them to the parks, and com- 
pared with this they have a poor substitute. This 
is the world as God made it, with all its primordial 
beauty. We’re fortunate that circumstances placed 
us here, Thomas, and we should be forever thank- 
ful.” 

“ I’m wonderin’ now,” observed Thomas, as he 
and Doctor Joe paced up and down the gravelly 
beach, “ why folks ever lives in such places as you 
tells about. The’s plenty o’ room down here on 
The Labrador, and plenty o’ other places, I’m not 
doubtin’, where they’d be free from the crowds 
and dirt, and have plenty o’ room to stretch, and 
live fine like we lives.” 

“ We’re a thousand miles from a railroad,” said 
Doctor Joe. " Most of the people in the cities 
wouldn’t live a thousand paces from a railroad if 


36 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


they could help themselves. They take a car and 
ride if they’ve only half a mile to go. They ride 
so much they’ve almost forgotten how to walk. 
They like crowds. They’d be lonesome if they 
were away from them.” 

“ ’Tis strange, wonderful strange, how some 
folks lives,” remarked Thomas, quite astonished 
that any could prefer the city to his own big, free 
Labrador. “ When folks has enough to keep un 
busy they never gets lonesome, and bein’ idle is like 
wastin’ a part of life. A man could never be lone- 
some where there’s plenty o’ water and woods 
about. I always finds jobs a-plenty to turn my 
hand to, and I has no time to feel lonesome. And 
I never could live where I didn’t have room enough 
to stretch, whatever.” 

“That’s it!” Doctor Joe spoke decisively. 
“ Room enough to stretch mind as well as body. 
Why, Thomas, I’ve often heard men say that they 
had to ‘ kill time,’ and didn’t know what to do with 
themselves for hours together ! ” 

“ ’Tis wicked and against the Lard’s will,” and 
Thomas shook his head. “ The Lard never wants 
folks to be idle or kill time. He fixes it so there’s 
a-plenty of useful things for everybody to do all 
the time, and they wants to do un.” 

“ ’Tis the measure of a man’s worth,” remarked 
Doctor Joe. “ The worth while man never has an 
hour to kill. The day hasn’t hours enough for 
him. It’s the other kind that kill time — the sort 


PLANS 


37 


that are not, and never will be, of much account in 
the world.” 

They walked a little in silence, each busy with 
his own thoughts, when Thomas remarked: 

“ The Lard has been wonderful good to me, 
Doctor Joe, givin’ me three as fine lads and as fine 
a lass as He ever gave a man. Then He saves the 
little lad’s eyes, when they were goin’ blind, by 
sendin’ you to cure un. And when I were breakin’ 
my leg and couldn’t work He sends along Indian 
Jake to go to the trails to hunt with David and 
Andy, and they makes a fine hunt and keeps us out 
o’ debt. And this summer we has as fine a catch 
of salmon as ever we has, and we’re through with 
un a fortnight ahead of ever before, with all the 
barrels filled and the gear stowed, and the salt 
salmon traded in at the Post, and plenty o’ flour 
and pork and molasses and tea t’ see us through 
the winter, whatever.” 

“ Last year at this time things looked pretty blue 
for us,” said Doctor Joe, “ but everything worked 
out well in the end, Thomas.” 

“Aye,” agreed Thomas, “ wonderful well. I’m 
thinkin’ that if we does our best t’ help ourselves 
when troubles come the Lard is like t’ step in and 
give us a hand. He wants us to do the best we can 
t’ help ourselves and when He sees we’re doin’ it 
He lifts the troubles.” 

“ That’s true,” agreed Doctor Joe, “ and if a 
man takes advantage of every opportunity that 


38 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


comes to him, and don’t waste his time, he’s pretty 
sure to succeed.” 

“Aye, that he is,” said Thomas. “Now I were 
thinkin’ that the lads worked so wonderful hard at 
the salmon th’ summer. I’d let un go with you to 
Fort Pelican t’ manage the boat, and I’ll be staying 
home to make ready for the trail. The’s a-plenty 
to be done yet to make ready without hurry, and a 
trip to Fort Pelican will be a rare treat for the lads. 
But I’ll go if you wants. I were just askin’ if 
’t would be suitin’ you if I stays home and lets 
they go? ” 

“ Why, of course ! That’s great ! Simply 
great!” exclaimed Doctor Joe. “The boys will 
make a fine crew! Will Jamie go too? ” 

“Aye, Jamie’s been workin’ like a man, and he’ll 
be keen for the trip,” said Thomas. “And last 
night I were thinkin’ after I goes to bed how fine 
’tis that you’re to be doctor to the coast. Indian 
Jake’s to be my trappin’ pardner th’ winter, and 
the lads’ll ’bide home. You’ll be needin’ dogs and 
komatik (sledge) to take you about. There’ll be 
little enough for the dogs to do, and you’ll be wel- 
come to un. The lads can do the drivin’ for you 
and whatever you wants un to do. Use un all you 
needs. I wants to do my share to help you do the 
doctorin’.” 

“ Thank you ! Thank you, Thomas ! ” Doctor 
Joe accepted gratefully. “ This will make it pos- 
sible for me to see a good many people that I other- 


PLANS 


39 


wise would not be able to see, and make it easier 
for me also.” 

“Aye,” said Thomas, “ I were thinkin’ that too, 
and the lads will be glad enough to lend you a 
hand when you needs un.” 

It was broad daylight. While Thomas and 
Doctor Joe talked on the beach, the boys had been 
busily engaged in carrying the day’s supply of 
water from Roaring Brook to a water barrel in the 
porch. Now Jamie appeared to announce break- 
fast. While they ate the boys were able to talk of 
little else than the scout books, and the fact they 
were to do as boys did in other parts of the world. 
And they were delighted beyond measure when 
they learned that they were to make the voyage to 
Fort Pelican with Doctor Joe. It was an event of 
vast importance. 

“ There’ll be plenty o’ time in the boat to study 
the scout book things,” Andy suggested. “ Maybe 
now we could learn to be scouts before we gets 
back home.” 

“ I’ve no doubt you can pass all the tenderfoot 
tests while we’re away,” said Doctor Joe. “And 
since you’re to take me about with dogs and kom- 
atik this winter when I go to visit sick people, 
there’ll be no end of chances to show what good 
scouts you are.” 

“ To take you about ? ” asked Andy excitedly. 

Then Thomas must needs explain that they must 
do their share in looking after the sick folk, and 


40 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


that David and Andy were to be Doctor Joe’s dog 
drivers when winter came. 

“ ’Twill be fine to manage the dogs for you, 
sir! ” exclaimed David, turning to Doctor Joe. 

“ Wonderful fine! ” echoed Andy. 

“ And will you be goin’ outside the Bay? ” asked 
David. 

“Aye, outside the Bay and in it, wherever there’s 
need to go,” said Doctor Joe. 

“ ’Twill be tryin’ and hard work sometimes,” 
suggested Thomas, “ travellin’ when the weather’s 
nasty, but I’m not doubtin’ the lads’ll be able t’ 
manage un.” 

“ We’ll manage un! ” David declared with pride 
in the confidence placed in him and Andy. 

To drive dogs on these sub-arctic trails in fair 
weather and foul calls for courage and grit, and 
the lads felt justly proud of the responsibility that 
had been laid upon them. There would be many a 
shift to make on the ice, they knew. There would 
be blinding blizzards and withering arctic winds to 
face, and no end of hard work. But these lads of 
The Labrador loved to stand upon their feet like 
men and face and conquer the elements like hardy 
men of courage. This is the way of boys the 
world over — eager for the time when they may 
assume the responsibility of manhood. Such a 
time comes earlier to the lads of The Labrador 
than with us. In that stern land there is no idling 
and there are no holidays, and every one, the lad 


PLANS 


41 


as well as his father, must always do his part, 
which is his best. 

Fort Pelican, the nearest port at which the mail 
boat called, was seventy miles eastward from The 
Jug. With the uncertainty of wind and tide the 
boat journey to Fort Pelican usually consumed 
three days, and with equal time required for re- 
turn, the voyage could seldom be accomplished in 
less than six days. Lem Horn and his family 
lived at Horn’s Bight, thirty miles from The Jug, 
and fifteen miles beyond, at Caribou Arm, was 
Jerry Snook’s cabin. Save an Eskimo settlement 
of half a dozen huts near Fort Pelican and the 
families of Lem Horn and Jerry Snook the coun- 
try lying between The Jug and Fort Pelican was 
uninhabited. It was unlikely that evening would 
find the travellers in the vicinity of either Horn’s 
or Snook’s cabins, and therefore it was to be a 
camping trip, which was quite to the liking of the 
boys. 

The boys washed the old fishing boat and packed 
the equipment and provisions for the voyage. 
Margaret baked three big loaves of white bread, 
and as a special treat a loaf of plum bread. The 
remaining provisions consisted of tea, a bottle of 
molasses for sweetening, flour, baking-powder, fat 
salt pork, lard, oleomargarine, salt and pepper. 
The culinary equipment included a frying-pan, a 
basin for mixing dough, a tin kettle for tea, a 
larger kettle to be used in cooking, one large cook- 


42 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


ing spoon, four teaspoons and some tin plates. 
Each of the boys as well as Doctor Joe was pro- 
vided with a sheath knife carried on the belt. The 
sheath knife serves the professional hunter as a 
cooking knife, as well as for eating and general 
purposes. 

For camping use there was a cotton wedge tent, 
a small sheet-iron tent stove, three camp axes, some 
candles and matches, a file for sharpening the axes 
and a sleeping bag for each. Men in that land do 
not travel without arms, and it was decided that 
David should take a .44-40 carbine and Andy and 
Doctor Joe each a double barrel shotgun, for there 
might be an opportunity to shoot a fat goose or 
duck. 

Thomas’s big boat had two light masts rigged 
with leg-o’-mutton sails. Just forward of the fore- 
mast David and Andy placed some flat stones, and 
covering them with two or three inches of gravel 
set the tent stove upon the gravel. Here they 
could cook their meals at midday, and the gravel 
would protect the bottom of the boat from heat. 
A sufficient quantity of fire- wood was taken aboard, 
and the provisions and other equipment stowed 
under a short deck forward where the things would 
be protected from storm and all would be in readi- 
ness for an early start in the morning. 


Ill 


“ ’TIS THE GHOST OF LONG JOHN ” 
HE morning was clear and crisp. Break- 



fast was eaten by candle-light, and before 


sunrise Doctor Joe and the boys, with the 


tide to help them, worked the big boat down 
through The Jug and past the Point into Eskimo 
Bay. In the shelter of The Jug, which lay in the 
lee of the hills, the sails flapped idly and it was 
necessary to bring the long oars into service. But 
beyond the sheltered harbour a light northwest 
breeze caught and filled the sails, the oars were 
stowed, the rudder shipped, and with David at the 
tiller Doctor Joe lighted his pipe and settled him- 
self for a quiet smoke while Andy and Jamie 
turned their attention to their scout Handbooks. 

It was an inspiring morning. The sky was 
cloudless. The air was charged with scent of 
spruce and balsam fir, wafted down by the breeze 
from the forest, lying in dark and solemn silence 
and spreading away from the near-by shore until it 
melted into the blue haze of rolling hills far to the 
northward. The huge black back of a grampus 
rose a hundred feet from the boat and with a noise 


43 


44 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

like the loud exhaust of steam sank again beneath 
the surface of the Bay. Now and again a seal 
raised its head and looked curiously at the travel- 
lers and then hastily dived. Gulls and terns soared 
and circled overhead, occasionally dipping to the 
water to capture a choice morsel of food. A flock 
of wild geese, honking in flight, turned into a bight 
and alighted where a brook coursed down through 
a marsh to join the sea. 

“ There’s some geese,” remarked David, break- 
ing the silence. “ They’re cornin’ up south now. 
We’ll have a hunt when we gets home. They al- 
ways feeds in that mesh when they’re bidin’ about 
the Bay.” 

Presently Andy exclaimed: 

“ I can tie un all ! I can tie every knot in the 
book!” 

“ I can tie un, too! ” said Jamie. 

“ Yes ! Yes ! There are the scout tests ! ” broke 
in Doctor Joe. “ Suppose we all tie the knots and 
pass the tests.” 

Andy and Jamie tied them easily enough, and 
then Doctor Joe tied them himself to keep pace 
with the boys, and Andy relieved David at the tiller 
that he might try his hand at them ; David not only 
tied all the knots illustrated in the Handbook, but 
for good measure added a bowline on a bight, a 
double carrick bend, a marlin hitch and a halliard 
hitch. 

“ That’s wonderful easy to do,” David declared 


“’TIS THE GHOST OF LONG JOHN” 45 


as he laid the rope down. “ ’Tis strange they calls 
that a test, ’tis so easy done.” 

“ Easy for us,” admitted Doctor Joe, “ but for 
boys who have never had much to do with boats or 
ropes it's a hard test, and an important one. You 
chaps knew how to tie them, so in doing it you 
haven’t learned anything new. Let us make up 
our minds as scouts to learn something new every 
day — something we never knew before, no matter 
how small or unimportant it may seem. Think 
what a lot we’ll know next year that we do not 
know now; everything we learn, too, is sure to be 
of use to us sometime in our lives. 

“As we go along we’ll find there is a great deal 
to learn in this Handbook, and all of it is worth 
knowing. We don’t look far ahead. Suppose we 
begin with the scout law. With your good memo- 
ries you’ll learn it before we go ashore to-night. I 
want you to learn the twelve points of the law in 
order as they appear in the book, so that you can 
repeat them and tell me in your own words what 
each point means.” 

Doctor Joe turned to the scout law and ex- 
plained each point in detail. When he told them 
that “A Scout is kind ” meant that they must not 
only be kind to people, but that they must protect 
and not kill harmless birds and animals, David pro- 
tested : 

“ If we promises that, sir, ’twould stop us huntin’ 
seals and deer and pa’tridges and plenty o’ things.” 


46 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ Oh, no ! ” explained Doctor Joe. “ It does not 
mean that. It means that you must kill nothing 
needlessly . Here in Labrador we must kill seals 
and deer and partridges and other game for food 
and for their skins. That is the way we make our 
living. In the same way they have to kill cows and 
sheep and goats and pigs for food in the country I 
came from and to get skins for boots and gloves. 
In the same way we are permitted to kill game 
when necessary. But we’re not to kill anything 
that’s harmless unless we need it for some 
purpose. The Indians and other people about here 
shoot at loons for sport. I’ve seen them chase the 
loons in canoes and keep shooting at them every 
time they came up after a dive until the loons were 
too tired to dive quickly enough to get out of the 
way of the shot, and then the poor things were 
killed. The flesh isn’t fit to eat and they’re always 
thrown away. That is cruel.” 

“ I never thought of un that way. I’ve killed 
loons too,” David confessed, “ but I’ll never shoot 
at a loon again. ’Tis the same with gulls and 
other things we never uses when we kills, and just 
shoot at for fun.” 

“ That’s the idea,” said Doctor Joe enthusiastic- 
ally. “ Now what do you think about killing hen 
partridges in summer ? ” 

“We can kill pa’tridges, can’t we?” asked 
David. “We always eats un, and you said we 
could kill un.” 


“’TIS THE GHOST OF LONG JOHN” 47 

“ But we’ve got to use our heads about it,” 
Doctor Joe explained. “ I’m talking now about 
hen partridges in summer . They always have 
broods of little partridges then. If you kill the 
mother all the little ones die, for they’re too small 
to take care of themselves. Do you think that’s 
right ? ” 

“ I never thought of un before,” said David. 
“ ’Tis wicked to kill un ! I’ll never kill a hen pa’- 
tridge in summer again! Not me! ” 

“ We’ll have to be tellin’ everybody in the Bay 
about that ! ” declared Andy. “ Nobody has ever 
thought about the poor little uns starvin’ and 
dyin’ ! ” 

“ That’ll be doing good scout work,” Doctor Joe 
commended. “ That’s one way you’ll be useful as 
scouts here in Labrador. Not only will you be 
showing kindness to the mother and little par- 
tridges, but if the mother is permitted to live and 
raise her brood all the little birds will be full grown 
by winter, and it will make that many more par- 
tridges that can be used for food when food is 
needed.” 

When presently Jamie announced that it was 
“ ’most noon ” and he was “ fair starvin’,” and the 
others suddenly discovered that they were hungry 
too, a fire was lighted in the stove and a cozy lunch 
of hot tea sweetened with molasses, fried pork and 
bread was eaten with an appetite and relish such as 
only those can enjoy who live in the open. Then, 


48 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


with growing interest, the lads returned to their 
scout books, and camping time came almost before 
they were aware. 

The sun was drooping low in the west when 
David, indicating a low, wooded point, suggested: 

“ That's Flat P’int. The's good water there, 
and ’tis a fine camping place." 

“ Then we’ll camp there,” Doctor Joe agreed. 

“ Look ! Look ! " exclaimed Andy, as the boat 
approached the shore. “ There's a porcupine ! " 

Following the direction in which Andy pointed 
a fat porcupine was discovered high up in a spruce 
tree feeding upon the tender branches and bark. 

“ Shall we have un for supper ? " Andy asked 
excitedly. 

“Aye," said David, “ let’s have un for supper. 
Fresh meat’ll go fine." 

A shot from the rifle, when they had landed, 
brought the unfortunate porcupine tumbling to the 
ground, and Andy proceeded at once to skin and 
dress his game for supper. 

“ I’ll be cook and Andy cookee," Doctor Joe an- 
nounced. “ We’ll get wood for the fire, David, 
and you and Jamie pitch the tent and get it ready." 

Flat Point was well wooded, and the floor of the 
forest thickly carpeted with gray caribou moss. 
David selected a level spot between two trees on a 
little rise near the shore. The ridge rope was 
quickly stretched between the trees and the tent se- 
curely pegged down. Then David and Jamie 


“’TIS THE GHOST OF LONG JOHN” 49 


broke a quantity of low-hanging spruce boughs, 
which they snapped from the trees with a dexter- 
ous upward bend of the wrist. When a liberal pile 
of these had been accumulated at the entrance of 
the tent, David proceeded to lay the bed. 

The rear of the tent was to be the head. Here 
he laid a row of the boughs, three deep, with the 
convex side uppermost, then he began “ shingling ” 
the boughs in rows toward the foot. This was 
done by placing the butt end of the bough firmly 
against the ground with half the bough, the convex 
side uppermost, overlapping the bough above it, as 
shingles are lapped on a roof. Thus continuing 
until the floor of the tent was covered he had a 
soft, fragrant springy bed, quite as soft and com- 
fortable as a mattress, and upon this he and Jamie 
spread the sleeping bags. 

In the meantime Doctor Joe and Andy had col- 
lected an ample supply of dry wood for the even- 
ing, and when, presently, David and Jamie joined 
them a cheerful fire was blazing and already an 
appetizing odour was rising from the stew kettle. 

When the stew and some tender dumplings were 
done Doctor Joe lifted the kettle from the fire, and 
while he filled each plate with a liberal portion, and 
Andy poured tea, David put fresh wood upon the 
fire, for the evening had grown cold and frosty 
with the setting sun. The blazing fire was cheer- 
ful indeed as they settled themselves upon the seat 
of boughs and proceeded to enjoy their supper. 


50 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ Um-m-m ! ” exclaimed Andy. “ You knows 
how to cook wonderful fine, Uncle ! ” 

“ ’Tis wonderful fine stew ! ” seconded David. 

“ Not half bad,” admitted Doctor Joe, “ but 
Andy had as much to do with it as I, and the por- 
cupine had a good deal to do with it. It was 
young and fat, and it’s tender.” 

There is no pleasanter hour for the camper or 
voyageur than the evening hour by a blazing camp 
fire. There is no sweeter odour than that of the 
damp forest mingled with the smell of burning 
wood. Beyond the narrow circle of light a black 
wall rises, and behind the wall lies the wilderness 
with its unfathomed mysteries. Out in the dark- 
ness wild creatures move, silent, stealthy and un- 
seen, behind a veil that human eyes cannot pene- 
trate. But we know they are there going about 
the strange business of their life, and our imag- 
ination is awakened and our sensibilities quick- 
ened. 

The camp fire is a shrine of comradeship and 
friendship. Here it was that the primordial an- 
cestors of every living man and woman and child 
gathered at night with their families, in those far- 
off dark ages before history was written. The fire 
was their home. Here they found rest and com- 
fort and protection from the savage wild beasts 
that roamed the forests. It was a place of venera- 
tion. The primitive instinct, perchance inherited 
from those far-off ancestors of ours, slumbering in 


“ *TIS THE GHOST OP LONG JOHN ” 51 


our souls, is sometimes awakened, and then we are 
called to the woods and the wild places that God 
made beautiful for us, and at night we gather 
around our camp fire as our ancient ancestors gath- 
ered around theirs, and we love it just as they 
loved it. 

And so it was with the little camp fire on Flat 
Point and with Doctor Joe and the boys. With 
darkness the uncanny light of the Aurora Borealis 
flashed up in the north, its long, weird fingers of 
changing colours moving restlessly across the 
heavens. The forest and the wide, dark waters of 
Eskimo Bay sank behind a black wall. 

There was absolute silence, save for the ripple 
of waves upon the shore, each busy with his own 
thoughts, until presently Jamie asked: 

“ Did you ever see a ghost, Uncle? ” 

“A ghost? No, lad, and I fancy no one else 
ever saw one except in imagination. What made 
you think of ghosts? ” 

“ ’Tis so — still — and dark out there,” said Jamie, 
pointing toward the darkness beyond the fire-glow. 
“And — I were thinkin’ I heard something.” 

“ But they is ghosts, sir, plenty of un,” broke in 
Andy. “ Pop’s seen ghosts and so has Zeke Hodge 
and Uncle Billy and plenty of folks. They says 
the ghost of Long John, the old Injun that used to 
be at the Post and was drowned, goes paddlin’ and 
paddlin’ about in a canoe o’ nights.” 

“ Yes,” said David, “ I’m thinkin’ I saw Long 


52 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


John's ghost myself one evenin’. I weren’t certain 
of un, but it must have been he.” 

“ Nonsense ! ” Doctor Joe had no patience with 
the belief popular among Labradormen that ghosts 
of men who have been drowned or killed return to 
haunt the scene of their death. “ There’s no such 
thing as a ghost.” 

“What’s that now?” Jamie held up his hand 
for silence, and spoke in a subdued voice. 

But out of the darkness came the rhythmic dip- 
ping of a paddle. They all heard it now. Doctor 
Joe arose, and closely followed by the boys, stepped 
down beyond the fire glow. In dim outline they 
could see the silhouette of a canoe containing the 
lone figure of a man paddling with the short, quick 
stroke of the Indian. 

“ ’Tis the ghost of Long John!” breathed Jamie. 
“ ’Tis sure he ! ” 


IV 


SHOT FROM BEHIND 

T HE canoe was coming directly toward 
them. In a moment it touched the shore, 
and as its occupant stepped lightly out the 
boys with one accord exclaimed: 

“ Injun Jake! ’Tis Injun Jake! ” 

And so it proved. The greeting he received was 
hearty enough to leave no doubt in his mind that 
he was a welcome visitor. Perhaps it was the 
heartier because of the relief the boys experienced 
in the discovery that the lone canoeman was not, 
after all, the wraith of Long John, but was their 
friend Indian Jake in flesh and blood. 

When his packs had been removed, Indian Jake 
lifted his canoe from the water, turned it upon its 
side and followed the boys to the fire where Doctor 
Joe awaited him. 

“ Just in time!” welcomed Doctor Joe, as he 
shook Indian Jake's hand. “ We’ve finished eat- 
ing, but there’s plenty of stew in the kettle. Andy, 
pour Jake some tea.” 

Indian Jake, grunting his thanks, silently picked 
up David’s empty plate and heaped it with stew 
and dumpling from the kettle without the cere- 
mony of waiting to be served. 

53 


54 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


He was a tall, lithe, muscular half-breed, with 
small, restless, hawk-like eyes and a beaked nose 
that was not unlike the beak of a hawk. He had 
the copper-hued skin and straight black hair of the 
Indian, but otherwise his features might have been 
those of a white man. Indian Jake had been the 
trapping companion of David and Andy the pre- 
vious winter, and, as previously stated, was this 
year to be Thomas Angus’s trapping partner on the 
fur trails. 

The boys were vastly fond of Indian Jake, and 
Thomas and Doctor Joe shared their confidence, 
but the Bay folk generally looked upon him with 
distrust and suspicion. Several years before, he 
had come to the Bay a penniless stranger. He 
soon earned the reputation of being one of the best 
trappers in the region. Then, suddenly, he disap- 
peared owing the Hudson’s Bay Company a con- 
siderable sum for equipment and provisions sold 
him on credit. It was well known that in the win- 
ter preceding his disappearance Indian Jake had 
had a most successful hunting season and was in 
possession of ample means to pay his debts. His 
failure to apply his means to this purpose was 
looked upon as highly dishonest — akin, indeed, to 
theft. 

Two years later he reappeared, again penniless. 
The Company refused him further credit, and he 
had no means of purchasing the supplies necessary 
for his support during the trapping season in the 


SHOT FROM BEHIND 


55 


interior. It was at this time that Thomas Angus 
broke his leg, and it became necessary for David 
and Andy to take his place on the trails. They 
were too young to endure the long months of isola- 
tion without an older and experienced companion. 
There was none but Indian Jake to go with them, 
and he was engaged to hunt on shares a trail ad- 
jacent to theirs. With his share of the furs cap- 
tured when the trapping season ended, Indian Jake 
discharged his old debt with the Company. This 
was not sufficient, however, to reestablish confi- 
dence in him. There was a lurking suspicion 
among them, fostered by Uncle Ben Rudder of 
Tuggle Bight, the wiseacre and oracle of the Bay, 
that Indian Jake's payment of the debt was not 
prompted by honesty but by some ulterior motive. 

Indian Jake emptied his plate. He refilled it 
with the last of the stew and again emptied it, in 
the interim swallowing several cups of hot tea. 

“ Good stew," he remarked in appreciation and 
praise when his meal was finished. “ When were 
you gettin' back ? ” 

“ I reached The Jug day before yesterday," said 
Doctor Joe. 

“ Huh! " Indian Jake grunted approval, as he 
puffed industriously at his pipe. “ Where you 
goin’ now ? To see Lem Horn ? " 

“ No," Doctor Joe answered, “ we’re going to 
Fort Pelican to get some things I brought in on the 
mail boat." 


56 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


“ I been goose huntin’,” Indian Jake explained. 
“ Not much goose yet. Too early. Got four. 
Goin’ to The Jug now to give Thomas a hand. 
Want to start for Seal Lake soon. Don’t want to 
be late.” 

“ Pop’s thinkin’ to start in a fortnight,” said 
David. 

“ Good ! ” acknowledged Indian Jake. “ Maybe 
we start sooner. Start when we’re ready. I want 
to go quick. Have plenty time get there before 
freeze-up.” 

Indian Jake was apparently through talking. 
Doctor Joe and the boys made several attempts to 
continue the conversation, but only receiving re- 
sponsive grunts, turned to a discussion of the flag 
and other scout problems while Indian Jake was ab- 
sorbed in his own thoughts. Presently he rose and 
proceeded to unroll his bed. 

“ Plenty of room in the tent,” Doctor Joe in- 
vited. “ Better come in with us, Jake.” 

“ Goin’ early. Sleep here,” he declined, as he 
spread a caribou skin upon the ground to protect 
himself from the damp earth. Then he produced 
a Hudson’s Bay Company blanket, once white but 
now of uncertain shade, and rolling himself in the 
blanket, with his feet toward the fire, was soon 
snoring peacefully. 

“ We won’t trouble to douse the fire,” Doctor 
Joe suggested presently. “ He wants to sleep by 
it and he’ll look after it. Let’s turn in.” 


SHOT FROM BEHIND 


57 


And 'with the front of the tent open that they 
might enjoy the air and profit by the firelight, they 
were soon snug in their sleeping bags and as sound 
asleep as Indian Jake. 

“ High-o ! ” 

The three boys sat up. It was broad daylight, 
and Doctor Joe, on his hands and knees, was look- 
ing out of the tent. 

“ Our visitor has gone, and there’s little wonder 
for we’ve been sleeping like bears and it’s broad 
daylight. Hurry, lads, or the sun’ll be well up be- 
fore we get away.” 

The boys sprang up and were soon dressed. The 
fire had burned low, indicating that Indian Jake 
had been gone for a considerable time. A fat 
goose was hanging from the limb of a tree. Fast- 
ened to it was a piece of birch bark, and scribbled 
upon the birch bark with a piece of charcoal from 
the fire, these words : 

“ cerprize fur the lads bekos they likes Goos.” 

Another surprise awaited them. When they 
lifted the lid of the large cooking kettle they found 
it nearly full of boiled goose. 

“ That’s the way o’ Indian Jake!” Andy ex- 
claimed. “ He’s always plannin’ fine surprises for 
folks.” 

“ It’s surely a fine surprise,” said Doctor Joe. 
“ Breakfast all ready but the tea, and a goose for 
to-night.” 

Every one hurried, and the sun was just rising 


58 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


when they put out the fire and hoisted sail. There 
was little wind, however, and the light breeze soon 
dropped to a dead calm. Doctor Joe unshipped 
the rudder and began sculling, while the boys 
laboured at the long oars. At length the tide began 
running in, and progress was so slow it was de- 
cided to go ashore and await a turn of the tide or 
a breeze. 

“ Lem Horn lives just back o’ that island,” said 
David, indicating a small wooded island. “We 
might stop and bide there till a breeze comes, and 
see un.” 

In accordance with the suggestion Doctor Joe 
turned the boat inside the island, and there, on the 
mainland in the edge of a little clearing and not a 
hundred yards distant, stood Lem Horn’s cabin. 
It was a secluded and peculiarly lonely spot, hidden 
by the island from the few boats that plied the Bay. 
Here lived Lem Horn and his wife and two sons, 
Eli, a young man of twenty-one years, and Mark, 
nineteen years of age. 

“ The’s no smoke,” observed Jamie. 

“ Maybe they’re all down to Fort Pelican gettin’ 
their winter outfit,” suggested David. 

“ There seems to be no one about but the dogs,” 
said Doctor Joe, as he stepped ashore with the 
painter and made it fast, while Lem’s big sledge 
dogs, lolling in the sun, watched them curiously. 

Visitors do not knock in Labrador. The cabins 
are always open to travellers whether or not the 


SHOT FROM BEHIND 


59 


host is at home. Andy was in advance, and open- 
ing the door he stopped on the threshold with an 
exclamation of horror. 

Stretched upon the floor lay Lem Horn, his face 
and hair smeared with blood, and on the floor near 
him was a small pool of blood. A chair was over- 
turned, and Lem’s legs were tangled in a fish-net. 

Doctor Joe leaned over the prostrate figure. 

“ Shot,” said he, “ and from behind! ” 

“ Does you mean somebody shot he ? ” asked 
David, quite horrified. 

“ Yes, and it must have happened yesterday,” 
said Doctor Joe. 


V 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 

“ TT JE’S alive, and this doesn’t look like a bad 

I I wound,” said Doctor Joe after a brief 
examination. “ David, put a fire in the 
stove and heat some water ! Andy, find some clean 
cloths! Jamie, bring up my medicine kit from the 
boat!” 

The boys hurried to carry out the directions, 
while Doctor Joe made a more careful examina- 
tion and discovered a second wound in Lem’s back, 
just below the right shoulder. 

“ Both shots from the back,” he mused. “ This 
wound explains his condition. The one in the 
head only scraped the skull, and couldn’t have more 
than stunned him for a short time. The other has 
caused a good deal of bleeding and may be seri- 
ous.” 

With David’s help Doctor Joe carried Lem to 
his bunk and removed his outer clothing. The 
water in the kettle on the stove was now warm 
enough for Doctor Joe’s purpose. He poured 
some of it into a dish, and after dissolving in it 
some antiseptic tablets, cleansed and temporarily 
dressed the wounds. 


60 







STRETCHED UPON THE FLOOR LAY LEM HORN 

















' 

































LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


61 


Restoratives were now applied. Lem responded 
promptly. His breathing became perceptible, and 
at length he opened his eyes and stared at Doctor 
Joe. There was no recognition in the stare and in 
a moment the eyes closed. Presently they again 
opened, and this time Lem’s lips moved. 

“ Where’s Jane? ” he asked feebly. 

“ Your wife seems to be away and the boys, 
too,” said Doctor Joe. “ We found you alone.” 

“ Gone to Fort Pelican,” Lem murmured after 
a moment’s thought. He stared at Doctor Joe for 
several minutes, now with the look of one trying 
to recall something, and at length asked: 

“ What’s — been — happenin’ to me ? ” 

“ You’ve been shot,” said Doctor Joe. “ We 
found you on the floor. Some one has shot you.” 

“ The silver ! The silver fox skin ! ” Lem dis- 
played excitement. “ Be it on the table ? I had 
un there ! ” 

“ There was no fur on the table when we came,” 
said Doctor Joe. 

Lem made a feeble attempt to rise, but Doctor 
Joe pressed him gently back upon the pillow, say- 
ing as he did so: 

“ You must lie quiet, Lem. Don’t try to move. 
You’re not strong enough.” 

Lem, like a weary child, closed his eyes in com- 
pliance. Several minutes elapsed before he opened 
them again, and then he looked steadfastly at 
Doctor Joe. 


62 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ Do you know who I am? ” Doctor Joe asked. 

“ Yes,” answered Lem in a feeble voice, “ you’re 
Doctor Joe. I knows you. I’m — glad you — 
came — Doctor Joe.” 

“ Lem, you’ve been shot, but we’ll pull you 
through. It isn’t so bad, but you’ve lost some 
blood and that’s left you weak for a little while. 
Don’t talk now. Rest and you’ll soon be on your 
feet again.” 

While Lem lay with closed eyes, Doctor Joe 
turned to consideration of the crime. If it were 
true that a silver fox skin had been taken, robbery 
was undoubtedly the motive for the shooting. But 
who could have known of the existence of the skin? 
And who could have come to this out-of-the-way 
place unobserved by the old trapper and shot him 
without warning? 

Instinctively Indian Jake rose before his eyes. 
The half-breed’s unsavoury reputation forced itself 
forward. And there was the circumstance of In- 
dian Jake’s visit to Flat Point camp the previous 
evening, his hurried departure in the morning, and 
his evident desire to hurry into the interior wilder- 
ness where he would be swallowed up for several 
months, and from which there would be innumer- 
able opportunities to escape. Suddenly Doctor Joe 
was startled by Lem’s voice, quite strong and 
natural now: 

“ I’m thinkin’ ’twere that thief Injun Jake that 
shoots me.” 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


63 


“ What makes you think so? ” asked Doctor Joe. 

“ He were hunt in’ geese just below here, and he 
comes in and sits for a bit. I had a silver fox skin 
I were holdin’ for a better price than they offers 
at Fort Pelican. ’Twere worth five hundred dol- 
lars whatever, and they only offers three hundred. 
I were busy mendin' my fishin’ gear before I stows 
un away when Injun Jake comes. We talks about 
fur and I brings the silver out t’ show he. Then 
I lays un on the table and keeps on mendin’ the 
gear after he goes, thinkin’ to put the fur up after 
I gets through mendin’.” 

“What time did Indian Jake come?” asked 
Doctor Joe. 

“A bit after noon. Handy to one o’clock ’twere, 
for I were just boilin’ the kettle. He eats a snack 
with me.” 

“ How long did he stay ? What time did he 
go? 

“ I’m not knowin’ just the time. I were a bit 
late boilin’ the kettle. I boiled un around one 
o’clock. We sets down to the table about ten after 
and ’twere handy to half-past when we clears the 
table. Then Injun Jake has a smoke, and I shows 
he the silver, and I’m thinkin’ ’twere a bit after 
two when he goes. He said he were goin* to stop 
on Flat P’int last night and get to Tom Angus’s 
to-night whatever.” 

“A little after two o’clock when he left ? ” 

“ Maybe ’twere half-past. He had a down wind 


64 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


to paddle agin’, and he were sayin’ ’twould be slow 
travelling and ’twould take three or four hours 
whatever to make Flat P’int.” 

'‘And then what happened ? ” 

“ I were settin’ mendin’ the gear thinkin’ to fin- 
ish un and stow un away, and I keeps at un till 
just sundown. I were just gettin’ up to put the 
kettle on for supper. That’s all I remembers, ex- 
ceptin’ I wakes up two or three times and tries to 
move, but when I tries there’s a wonderful hurt in 
my shoulder, and my head feels like she’s bustin’, 
and everything goes black in front of my eyes. If 
the fur’s gone Injun Jake took un.” 

“It’s strange,” said Doctor Joe, “very strange. 
There’s a bullet in your shoulder. After you rest 
a while we’ll probe for it and see if we can get it 
out. Don’t talk any more. Just lie quietly and 
sleep if you can.” 

The boys were out-of-doors. Doctor Joe was 
glad they had not heard Lem’s accusation against 
Indian Jake. The half-breed had been good to 
them, and they held vast faith in his integrity. 
There was some hope that Lem’s suspicions were 
not well founded; nevertheless Doctor Joe was 
forced to admit to himself that circumstances 
pointed to Indian Jake as the culprit. It was 
highly improbable that any one else should have 
been in the vicinity without Lem’s knowledge. It 
was quite possible that Lem’s statement of the 
hour when he was shot was incorrect, for his mind 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


65 


could hardly yet be clear enough to be certain, with- 
out doubt, of details. 

Lem quickly dropped into a refreshing sleep, and 
Doctor Joe left him for a little while to join the 
boys out-of-doors. He found them behind the 
house picking the goose Indian Jake had left in the 
tree at the Flat Point camp. 

“ How's Lem, sir ? Is he hurt bad ? ” David 
asked as Doctor Joe seated himself upon a stump. 

“ He's sleeping now. After he rests a little we’ll 
see how badly he's hurt," said Doctor Joe. “ I 
fancy you chaps are thinking about dinner. Hun- 
gry already, I'll be bound ! " 

“Aye,” grinned David, “ wonderful hungry. 
'Tis most noon, sir." 

Doctor Joe consulted his watch. 

“ I declare it is. It must have been nearly 
eleven o'clock when we reached here. I didn’t 
realize it was so late." 

“ 'Twere ten minutes to eleven, sir," said Andy. 
“ I were lookin’ to see how long it takes us to 
come from Flat P’int." 

“ What time did we leave Flat Point ? " asked 
Doctor Joe. 

“ 'Twere twenty minutes before seven, sir." 
Andy drew his new watch proudly from his pocket 
to refer to it again, as he did upon every possible 
occasion. 

“No," corrected David, “'twere only twenty-five 
minutes before seven when we leaves Flat P’int, 


66 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

and fifteen minutes before eleven when we gets 
here. I looks to see.” 

“ Perhaps your watches aren’t set alike,” sug- 
gested Doctor Joe. “ Suppose we compare them.” 

The comparison disclosed a difference, as Doc- 
tor Joe predicted, of five minutes. Then each must 
needs set his watch with Doctor Joe’s, which was 
a little slower than Andy’s and a little faster than 
David’s. 

Doctor Joe made some mental calculations. 
Both David and Andy had observed their watches, 
and there could be no doubt of the length of time 
it had required them to come from Flat Point to 
Lem’s cabin. They had consumed four hours, but 
their progress had been exceedingly slow. Indian 
Jake had doubtless travelled much faster in his 
light canoe, but, at best, with the wind against 
him, he could hardly have paddled from Lem’s 
cabin to Flat Point in less than two hours. He 
had arrived one hour after sunset. If Lem were 
correct as to the time when the shooting took place 
Indian Jake could not be guilty. But still there 
was, with but one hour or possibly a little more in 
excess of the time between sunset and Indian Jake’s 
arrival at camp, an uncertain alibi for Indian Jake. 
Lem may have been shot much earlier in the after- 
noon than he supposed. When Lem grew stronger 
it would be necessary to question him closely that 
the hour might be fixed with certainty. Whoever 
had shot and robbed Lem, must have known of the 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


67 


existence of the silver fox skin, and been familiar 
with the surroundings. The shots had doubtless 
been fired through a broken pane in a window 
directly behind the chair in which Lem was sitting 
at the time. 

“ Why not cook dinner out here over an open 
fire ? Doctor Joe presently suggested. “You 
chaps are pretty noisy, and if you come into the 
house to cook it on the stove, I’m afraid you’ll 
wake Lem up, and I want him to sleep.” 

“ We’ll cook un out here, sir,” David agreed. 

“ ’Tis more fun to cook here,” Jamie suggested. 

“ Very well. When it’s ready you may bring 
it in and we’ll eat on the table. Lem will probably 
be awake by that time and he’ll want something 
too. Stew the goose so there’ll be broth, and we’ll 
give some of it to Lem to drink/ 

“ You’ll have to go to Fort Pelican without me. 
I’ll have to stay here and take care of Lem. If 
the wind comes up, and I think it will, you may 
get a start after dinner,” and Doctor Joe returned 
to the cabin to watch over his patient. 

The goose was plucked. David split a stick of 
wood, and with his jack-knife whittled shavings 
for the fire. The knife had a keen edge, for David 
was a born woodsman and every woodsman keeps 
his tools always in good condition, and the shav- 
ings he cut were long and thin. He did not cut 
each shaving separately, but stopped his knife just 
short of the end of the stick, and when several 


68 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 

shavings were cut, with a twist of the blade he 
broke them from the main stick in a bunch. Thus 
they were held together by the butt to which they 
were attached. He whittled four or five of these 
bunches of shavings, and then cut some fine splints 
with his ax. 

David was now ready to light his fire. He 
placed two sticks of wood upon the ground, end to 
end, in the form of a right angle, with the opening 
between the sticks in the direction from which the 
wind came. Taking the butt of one of the bunches 
of shavings in his left hand, he scratched a match 
with his right hand and lighted the thin end of the 
shavings. When they were blazing freely he care- 
fully placed the thick end upon the two sticks 
where they came together, on the inside of the 
angle, with the burning end resting upon the 
ground. Thus the thick end of the shavings was 
elevated. Fire always climbs upward, and in an 
instant the whole bunch of shavings was ablaze. 
Upon this he placed the other shavings, the thin 
ends on the fire, the butts resting upon the two 
sticks at the angle. With the splints which he had 
previously prepared arranged upon this they 
quickly ignited, and upon them larger sticks were 
laid, and in less than five minutes an excellent 
cooking fire was ready for the pot. 

The goose was covered with a fine fuzz, and be- 
fore disjointing it David held it over the blaze 
until the fuzz was thoroughly singed and the sur- 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


69 


face of the skin clear. Then he proceeded to draw 
and cut the goose into pieces of suitable size for 
stewing, placed them in the kettle, and covered 
them with water from Lem’s spring. 

In the meantime Andy cut a stiff green pole 
about five feet in length. The thick end he sharp- 
ened, and near the other end cut a small notch. 
Using the thick or sharpened end like a crowbar, 
he drove it firmly into the ground with the small 
end directly above the fire. Placing a stone be- 
tween the ground and sloping pole, that the pole 
might not sag too low with the weight of the kettle, 
he slipped the bail of the kettle into the notch at 
the small end of the pole, where it hung suspended 
over the blaze. 

Preparing a similar pole, and placing it in like 
manner, Andy filled the teakettle and put it over 
the fire to heat for tea. 

“ I’m thinkin’,” suggested David as he dropped 
four or five thick slices of pork into the kettle of 
goose, “ ’twould be fine to have hot bread with the 
goose.” 

“ Oh, make un! Make un! ” exclaimed Jamie. 

“Aye,” seconded Andy, “ hot bread would go 
fine with the goose.” 

Andy fetched the flour up from the boat and 
David dipped about a quart of it into the mixing 
pan. To this he added four heaping teaspoonfuls 
of baking-powder and two level teaspoonfuls of 
salt. After stirring the baking-powder and salt 


70 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABEADOE 


well into the flour he added to it a heaping cooking 
spoonful of lard — a quantity equal to two heap- 
ing tablespoon fuls. This he rubbed into the flour 
with the back of the large cooking spoon until it 
was thoroughly mixed. He now added water 
while he mixed it with the flour, a little at a time, 
until the dough was of the consistency of stiff 
biscuit dough. 

The bread was now ready to bake. There was 
no oven, and the frying-pan must needs serve in- 
stead. The interior of the frying-pan he sprinkled 
liberally with flour that the dough might not stick 
to it. Then cutting a piece of dough from the 
mass he pulled it into a cake just large enough to 
fit into the frying-pan and about half an inch in 
thickness, and laid the cake carefully into the pan. 

With a stick he raked from the fire some hot 
coals. With the coals directly behind the pan, and 
with the bread in the pan facing the fire and ex- 
posed to the direct heat, he placed it at an angle 
of forty-five degrees, supporting it in that position 
with a sharpened stick, one end forced into the 
earth and the tip of the handle resting upon the 
other end. The bread thus derived heat at the 
bottom from the coals and at the top from the main 
fire. 

“ She’s risin’ fine! ” Jamie presently announced. 

" She’ll rise fast enough,” David declared con- 
fidently. “ There’s no fear of that.” 

There was no fear indeed. In ten minutes the 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


71 


loaf had increased to three times its original thick- 
ness and the side nearer the ground took on a deli- 
cate brown, for the greater heat of a fire is always 
reflected toward the ground. David removed the 
pan from its support, and, without lifting the loaf 
from the pan, moved it around until the brown side 
was opposite the handle. Then he returned the 
pan to its former position. Now the browned half 
was on the upper or handle side, while the un- 
browned half was on the side near the ground, and 
in a few minutes the whole loaf was deliciously 
browned. 

While the bread was baking David drove a stick 
into the ground at one side and a little farther from 
the fire than the pan. When the loaf had browned 
on top to his satisfaction he removed it from the 
pan and leaned it against the stick with the bottom 
exposed to the fire, and proceeded to bake a second 
loaf. 

“ Let me have the dough that’s left,” Jamie 
begged. 

“Aye, take un and you likes,” David consented. 
“ There’ll be too little for another loaf, whatever.” 

Jamie secured a dry stick three or four feet long 
and about two inches in diameter. This he scraped 
clean of bark, and pulling the dough into a rope as 
thick as his finger wound it in a spiral upon the 
center of the stick. Then he flattened the dough 
until it was not above a quarter of an inch in 
thickness. 


72 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


On the opposite side of the fire from David, that 
he might not interfere with David’s cooking, he 
arranged two stones near enough together for an 
end of the stick to rest on each. Here he placed it 
with the dough in the center exposed to the heat. 
As the dough on the side of the stick near the fire 
browned he turned the stick a little to expose a 
new surface, until his twist was brown on all sides. 

“ Have some of un,” Jamie invited. “ We’ll eat 
un to stave off the hunger before dinner. I’m fair 
starved.” 

David and Andy were not slow to accept, and 
Jamie’s crisp, hot twist was quickly devoured. 

The kettle of stewing goose was sending forth a 
most delicious appetizing odour. David lifted the 
lid to season it, and stir it with the cooking spoon. 
Jamie and Andy sniffed. 

“ U-m-m ! ” from Jamie. 

“ Oh, she smells fine ! ” Andy breathed. 

“ Seems like I can’t wait for un!” Jamie de- 
clared. 

“ She’s done ! ” David at length announced. 
“ Make the tea, Andy.” 

Using a stick as a lifter David removed the 
kettle of goose from the fire, while Andy put tea 
in the other kettle, which was boiling, removing it 
also from the fire. 

“ You bring the bread along, Jamie, and you the 
tea, Andy,” David directed, turning into the cabin 
with the kettle of goose. 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


73 


Lem had just awakened from a most refresh- 
ing sleep, and when he smelled the goose he de- 
clared : 

“ I’m hungrier’n a whale.” 

Doctor Joe laid claim also to no small appetite, 
an appetite, indeed, quite superior to that described 
by Lem. 

“A whale ! ” he sniffed. “ Why, I’m as hungry 
as seven whales ! Seven, now ! Big whales, too ! 
No small whales about my appetite ! ” 

The three boys laughed heartily, and David 
warned : 

“ We’ll all have to be lookin’ out or they won’t 
be a bite o’ goose left for anybody if Doctor Joe 
gets at un first ! ” 

Doctor Joe arranged a plate for Lem, upon 
which he placed a choice piece of breast and a sec- 
tion of one of David’s loaves, which proved, when 
broken, to be light and short and delicious. Then 
he poured Lem a cup of rich broth from the kettle, 
and while Lem ate waited upon him before him- 
self joining the boys at the table. 

“ How are you feeling, Lem ? ” asked Doctor 
Joe when every one was through and the boys were 
washing dishes. 

“ My head’s a bit soggy and I’m a bit weak, and 
the’s a wonderful pain in my right shoulder when 
I moves un,” said Lem. “ If ’tweren’t for my 
head and the weakness and the pain I’d feel as well 
as ever I did, and I’d be achin’ to get after that 


74 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


thief Indian Jake. As ’tis I’ll bide my time till I 
feels nimbler. ,, 

“ Do you think you could let me fuss around 
that shoulder a little while?” Doctor Joe asked. 
“ Does it hurt too badly for you to bear it ? ” 

“ Oh, I can stand un,” said Lem. “ Fuss around 
un all you wants to, Doctor Joe. You knows how 
to mend un and patch un up, and I wants un 
mended.” 

Doctor Joe called Andy to his assistance with 
another basin of warm water, in which, as previ- 
ously, he dissolved antiseptic tablets, explaining to 
the boys the reason, and adding: 

“ If a wound is kept clean nature will heal it. 
Nothing you can apply to a wound will assist in the 
healing. All that is necessary is to keep it clean 
and keep it properly bandaged to protect it from 
infection.” 

“ Wouldn’t a bit of wet t’baccer draw the sore- 
ness out ? ” Lem suggested. 

“ No ! No ! No ! ” protested Doctor Joe, prop- 
erly horrified. “ Never put tobacco or anything 
else on a wound. If you do you will run the risk 
of infection which might result in blood poiso^ 
which might kill you.” 

“ I puts t’baccer on cuts sometimes and she al- 
ways helps un,” insisted Lem. 

“ It’s simply through the mercy of God, then, 
and your good clean blood that it hasn’t killed you,” 
declared Doctor Joe. 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


76 


From his kit Doctor Joe brought forth bandages 
and gauze and some strange looking instruments, 
and turned his attention to the shoulder. Lem 
gritted his teeth and, though Doctor Joe knew he 
was suffering, never uttered a whimper or com- 
plaint. 

An examination disclosed the fact that the bullet 
had coursed to the right, and Doctor Joe located it 
just under the skin directly forward of the arm pit. 
Though it was necessarily a painful wound, he 
was relieved to find that no vital organ had been 
injured, and he was able to assure Lem that 
he would soon be around again and be as well as 
ever. 

When the bullet was extracted Doctor Joe ex- 
amined it critically, washed it and placed it care- 
fully in his pocket. It proved to be a thirty-eight 
caliber, black powder rifle bullet. Doctor Joe had 
no doubt of that. He had made a study of fire- 
arms and had the eye of an expert. 

“ It's half-past two, boys. A westerly breeze is 
springing up, and I think you'd better go on to 
Fort Pelican,” Doctor Joe suggested. “ I’ll give 
you a note to the factor instructing him to deliver 
all the things to you. You’ll be able to make a 
good run before camping time. Stop in here on 
your way back.” 

The boys made ready and said good-bye, spread 
the sails, and were soon running before a good 
breeze. Doctor Joe watched them disappear 


76 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


around the island, and returning to Lem’s bedside 
asked: 

“ Lem, do you know what kind of a rifle Indian 
Jake carried? ” 

“ I’m not knowin’ rightly,” said Lem. “ ’Twere 
either a forty-four or a thirty-eight. ’Twere he did 
the shoot in’. Nobody else has been cornin’ about 
here the whole summer. I’m not doubtin’ he’s got 
my silver fox, and I’m goin’ to get un back what- 
ever. He’d never stop at shootin’ to rob, but he’ll 
have to be quicker’n I be at shootin’, to keep the 
fur!” 

“ When are you expecting Mrs. Horn and the 
boys back? ” asked Doctor Joe. 

“ This evenin’ or to-morrow whatever,” said 
Lem. “ They’ve been away these five days gettin’ 
the winter outfit at Fort Pelican.” 

If Indian Jake were guilty, it was highly prob- 
able that he would take prompt steps to flee the 
country. He could not dispose of the silver fox 
skin in the Bay, for all of the local traders had al- 
ready seen and appraised it, and they would un- 
doubtedly recognize it if it were offered them. 
Indian Jake would probably plunge into the in- 
terior, spend the winter hunting and in the spring 
make his way to the St. Lawrence, where he would 
be safe from detection. 

Doctor Joe made these calculations while he sat 
by the bedside, and his patient dozed. He was 
sorry now that he had not sent the boys back to 


LEM HORN’S SILVER FOX 


77 


The Jug with a letter to Thomas explaining what 
had occurred. All of the evidence pointed to In- 
dian Jake’s guilt, and there could be little doubt of 
it if it should prove that the half-breed carried a 
thirty-eight fifty-five rifle. Thomas would know, 
and he would take prompt action to prevent Indian 
Jake’s escape with the silver fox skin. Should it 
prove, however, that Indian Jake’s rifle was of dif- 
ferent calibre he should be freed from suspicion. 

It was dusk that evening when the boat bearing 
Eli and Mark and Mrs. Horn rounded the island. 
Doctor Joe met them. They had seen the boys 
and had received from them a detailed account of 
what had happened, and Mrs. Horn was greatly 
excited. Her first thought was for Lem, and she 
was vastly relieved when she saw him, as he de- 
clared he did not feel “ so bad,” and Doctor Joe 
assured her he would soon be around again and as 
well as ever. 

Then there fell upon the family a full realization 
of their loss. The silver fox skin that had been 
stolen was their whole fortune. The proceeds of 
its sale was to have been their bulwark against 
need. It was to have given them a degree of in- 
dependence, and above all else the little hoard that 
its sale would have brought them was to have 
lightened Lem’s burden of labour during his de- 
clining years. 

Eli Horn was a big, broad-shouldered, swarthy 
young man of few words. For an hour after he 


78 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


heard his father’s detailed story of Indian Jake’s 
visit to the cabin he sat in sullen silence by the 
stove. Suddenly he arose, lifted his rifle from the 
pegs upon which it rested against the wall, dropped 
some ammunition into his cartridge bag, and 
swinging it over his shoulder strode toward the 
door. 

“ Where you goin’, Eli?” asked Lem from his 
bunk. 

“ To hunt Indian Jake,” said Eli as he closed the 
door behind him and passed out into the night. 


VI 


THE TRACKS IN THE SAND 

A SMART southwest breeze had sprung up. 
White caps were dotting the Bay, and 
with all sails set the boat bowled along a* 
a good speed. 

David held the tiller, while Andy and Jamie 
busied themselves with their handbooks. They 
were an hour out of Horn’s Bight when David 
sighted the Horn boat beating up against the wind. 
Drawing within hailing distance he told them of 
the accident. 

Mrs. Horn, greatly excited, asked many ques- 
tions. David assured her that her husband’s in- 
juries were not serious, nevertheless she was quite 
certain Lem lay at death’s door. 

“ ’Tis the first time I leaves home in most a 
year,” she lamented. “ I were feelin’ inside me 
’twere wrong to go and leave Lem alone. And 
now he’s gone and been shot and liker’n not most 
killed.” 

“ ’Tis too bad to make Mrs. Horn worry so. 
I’m wonderfully sorry,” David sympathized, as the 
boats passed beyond speaking distance. “ She’ll 
worry now till they gets home, and the way Lem 

79 


80 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


et goose I’m thinkin’ he ain’t hurt bad enough to 
worry much about he.” 

“ They’ll get there to-night whatever,” said 
Andy. “ ’Tis the way of Mrs. Horn to worry, 
even when we tells she Lem’s doin’ fine.” 

“ I’m wonderin’ and wonderin’ who ’twere shot 
Lem,” said David. “ Whoever ’twere had un in 
his heart to do murder.” 

“ Whoever ’twere looked in through the window 
and saw Lem with the fine silver fox on the table 
and sets out to get the fox,” reasoned Andy. 
“ The shootin’ were done through the window 
where the’s a pane of glass broke out.” 

“ I sees where the’s a pane of glass out,” said 
David. “ ’Twas not fresh broke though.” 

“ No, ’twere an old break,” Andy agreed. “ I 
goes to look at un, and I sees fresh tracks under 
the window where the man stands when he shoots.” 

“ Tracks ! ” exclaimed David. “ I never thought 
to look for tracks now! I weren’t thinkin’ of 
that ! You thinks of more things than I ever does, 
Andy.” 

“ I weren’t thinkin’ of tracks either,” said Andy, 
disclaiming credit for their discovery. “ Whilst 
you bakes the bread I just goes to look where 
the window is broke, and when I’m there I sees 
the strange lookin’ tracks.” 

“ Strange, now ! How was they strange ? ” 
asked Jamie excitedly, scenting a deepening mys- 
tery. 


THE TRACKS IK THE SAKD 


81 


“ They was made with boots with nails in the 
bottom of un,” explained Andy. “ They was 
nails all over the bottom of them boots, and they 
was big boots, them was. They made big tracks — 
wonderful big tracks.” 

“ ’Tis strange, now! Did you trace un, Andy? 
Did you see what way the tracks goes ? ” asked 
David. 

“ ’Twere only under the window where the 
ground were soft and bare of moss that the tracks 
showed the nails. I tracks un down though to 
where they comes in a boat and the boat goes 
again,” Andy explained. “The tracks were a day 
old, and down by the water the tide’s been in and 
washed un away. Whoever ’twere makes un were 
beyond findin’ whatever. They were goin’ away 
I’m thinkin’ right after they shoots Lem and takes 
his silver.” 

“Did you tell Doctor Joe about the tracks?” 
asked David. 

“ No, I weren’t thinkin’ to tell he when we goes 
in to eat, and he weren’t wantin’ us in before that 
fearin’ we’d wake Lem. The tracks weren’t of 
much account whatever. The folk that shot Lem 
were leavin’ in a boat and we couldn’t track the 
boat to find out who ’twere.” 

A drizzling rain began to fall before they made 
camp that night. It was too wet and dreary under 
the dripping trees for an open camp fire. The 
stove was therefore brought into service and set 


82 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


up in the tent, and there they cooked and ate their 
supper by candle-light. 

On a cold and stormy night there is no article in 
the camp equipment more useful than a little sheet- 
iron stove. With its magic touch it transforms a 
wet and dismal tent into the snuggest and coziest 
and most comfortable retreat in the whole world. 
Outside the wind was now dashing the rain in 
angry gusts against the canvas, and moaning 
drearily through the tree tops. Within the fire 
crackled cheerily. The tent was dry and snug and 
warm. The bed of fragrant balsam and spruce 
boughs, the smell of the fire and the soft candle- 
light combined to give it an indescribable at- 
mosphere of luxury. 

In the morning the weather had not improved. 
The wind had risen during the night, and was driv- 
ing the rain in sheets over the Bay. David went 
outside to make a survey, and when he returned he 
reported : 

“ 'Twill be a nasty day abroad." 

“ Let's bide here till the rain stops," suggested 
Jamie. 

“ The wind’s fair, and if she keeps up and don’t 
turn too strong we’ll make Fort Pelican by evenin’ 
whatever, if we goes," David objected. 

“ ’Twon’t be so bad, once we’re out and gets 
used to un," said Andy. 

“ No, ’twon’t be so bad," urged David. “ The 
wind may shift and fall calm, when the rain’s over. 


THE TRACKS IN THE SAND 83 

and if we bides here we’ll lose time in gettin’ to 
Fort Pelican. I’m for goin’ and makin’ the best 
of un.” 

“ I won’t mind un,” agreed Jamie, stoutly. “ I 
got grit to travel in the rain, and we wants to make 
a fast cruise of un.” 

It was “nasty” indeed when after breakfast 
they broke camp and set sail. In a little while 
they were wet to the skin, and it was miserably 
cold; but they were used enough to the beat of 
wind and rain in their faces, and all declared that 
it was not “ so bad ” after all. To these hardy 
lads of The Labrador rain and cold was no great 
hardship. It was all “ in a day’s work,” and 
scudding along before a good breeze, and looking 
forward to a good dinner in the kitchen at Fort 
Pelican, and to a snug bed at night, they quite for- 
got the cold and rain. 

During the morning the wind shifted to the west- 
ward, and before noon it drew around to the north- 
west. With the shift of wind the rain ceased, and 
the clouds broke. Then Andy lighted a fire in the 
stove, boiled the kettle and fried a pan of salt pork. 
Hot tea, with bread dipped in the warm pork 
grease, warmed them and put them in high spirits. 

“ ’Tis fine we didn’t bide in camp,” remarked 
David as he swallowed a third cup of tea. “ With 
this fine breeze we’ll make Fort Pelican to-night, 
whatever.” 

“ I’m fine and warm now,” declared Jamie, “ but 


84 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


’twas a bit hard to face the rain when we starts 
this marnin\” 

“ ’Tis always the thinkin’ about un that makes 
things hard to do/’ observed David. “ Things we 
has to do seems wonderful hard before we gets at 
un, but mostly they’re easy enough after we tackles 
un. The thinkin’ beforehand’s the hardest part 
of any hard job.” 

The sun broke out between black clouds scudding 
across the sky. The wind was gradually increas- 
ing in force. By mid-afternoon half a gale was 
blowing, a heavy sea was running, and the old 
boat, heeling to the gale, was in a smother of white 
water. 

“ We’re makin’ fine time ! ” shouted David, 
shaking the spray from his hair. 

“ We’ll sure make Fort Pelican this evenin’ 
early,” Andy shouted back. 

“ We’ll not make un! ” Jamie protested. “ The 
wind’s gettin’ too strong! We’ll have to go ashore 
and make camp ! ” 

“ The boat’ll stand un,” laughed David. “ She’s 
a sturdy craft in a breeze.” 

“ I’m afeared,” said Jamie. 

“ ‘A scout is brave,’ ” quoted Andy. 

“ ’Tisn’t meant for a scout to be foolish,” Jamie 
insisted. “ I’m afeared of bein’ foolish.” 

“ You was braggin’ of havin’ grit,” Andy 
taunted. 

" I has grit and a stout heart,” Jamie proudly 


THE TRACKS IN THE SAND 85 

asserted, “ but the’s no such need of haste as to 
tempt a gale. ’Tis time to lie to and camp.” 

David’s answer was lost in the smother of a 
great roller that chased them, and breaking astern 
nearly swept him from the tiller. When the lads 
caught their breath there was a foot of sea in the 
bottom of the boat. 

“ Bail her out ! ” bellowed David, shaking the 
water from his eyes. 

“ Jamie’s right! ’Tis blowin’ too high for com- 
fort ! ” shouted Andy, as he and Jamie, each with a 
kettle, bailed. “ We’d better not risk goin’ on! 
Find a lee to make a landin’, Davy.” 

“ ’Tis against reason not to take shelter ! ” piped 
Jamie. 

“ Fort Pelican’s only ten miles away ! ” David 
shouted back in protest. “ We’ll soon make un in 
this fine breeze ! ” 

The boat was riding on her beam ends. White 
horses breaking over her bow sent showers of 
foam her whole length. A sudden squall that 
nearly capsized her roused David suddenly to their 
danger. 

“ Reef the mains’l ! ” he shouted. 

“ Make for the lee of Comfort Island ! ” sput- 
tered Andy through the spray, as he and Jamie 
sprang for the mainsail to reef it. 

“ Make for un! ” echoed Jamie. “ ’Tis against 
reason to keep goin’.” 

The wind shrieked through the rigging. An- 


86 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


other great roller all but swamped them. The 
sudden fury of the wind, the ever higher piling 
seas, and the rollers that had so nearly over- 
whelmed the boat brought to David a full sense of 
their peril. He had been foolhardy and head- 
strong in his determination to continue to Fort 
Pelican. He realized this now even more fully 
than Andy and Jamie. 

David was a good seaman and fearless, with a 
full measure of faith in his skill. Now that his 
eyes were open to the peril in which he had placed 
them, he knew that all the skill he possessed and 
perhaps more would be required to take them 
safely into shelter. 

Comfort Island with its offer of snug harbour 
lay a half mile to leeward. David brought the 
boat before the wind, and headed directly for the 
island. 

Great breakers, pounding the high, rock-bound 
shores of Comfort Island, and booming like can- 
non, threw their spray a hundred feet in the air, 
enveloping the island in a cloud of mist. 

Stretching away from the island for a mile to 
the westward was a rocky shoal known as the 
Devil's Arm. At high tide, in calm weather, it 
might be crossed, but now it was a great white 
barrier of roaring breakers rising in mighty 
geysers above the sea. 

To the eastward of the island was a mass of 
black reefs known as the Devil's Tea Kettle. The 


THE TRACKS IN THE SAND 


87 


Devil’s Tea Kettle was always an evil place. Now 
it was a great boiling cauldron whose waters rose 
and fell in a seething white mass. 

It was quite out of the question to round the 
Devil’s Arm and beat back against the wind to the 
lee of the island. There was a narrow passage 
between the Devil’s Tea Kettle and the island. If 
he could make this passage it would be a simple 
matter to fall in behind the island to shelter and 
safety. 

All of these things David saw at a glance. It 
was a desperate undertaking, but it was the only 
chance, and he held straight for the passage. If 
he could keep the boat to her course, he would 
make it. If a sudden squall of wind overtook 
them the leeway would throw them upon the island 
breakers and they would be swallowed up in an 
instant and pounded to pieces upon the rocks. 

Over and over again David breathed the prayer: 
“ Lord, take us through safe ! Lord, take us 
through safe ! ” His face was set, but his nerves 
were iron. Andy and Jamie, tense with the peril 
and excitement of the adventure, crouched in the 
bottom of the boat. As they drew near the island, 
Jamie shouted encouragingly : 

“ Keep your grit, and a stout heart like a man, 
Davy ! ” but the roar of breakers drowned his 
voice, and David did not hear. 

“ Is you afraid, Jamie? ” Andy yelled in Jamie’s 


ear. 


88 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“Aye,” answered Jamie, “ but I has plenty of 
grit” 

He who knows danger and meets it manfully, 
though he fears it, is brave, and Jamie and all of 
them were brave. 

The boat was in the passage at last. David, 
every nerve tense, held her down to it. On the 
right seethed the Devil’s Tea Kettle, sending forth 
a continuous deafening roar. On the left was 
Comfort Island with a boom! boom! of thunder- 
ing breakers smashing against its high, sullen bul- 
warks of black rocks. The boat was so near that 
spray from the breakers fell over it in a shower. 

It was over in a moment. The Devil’s Tea 
Kettle, with all its loud threats, was behind them. 
The boat shot down along the shore, David swung 
to port, and they were safe in the quiet waters to 
the lee of the island. 

“ Thank the Lord ! ” said David reverently, as 
he brought the little craft to and the sail flapped 
idly. 

“ ’Twere a close shave,” breathed Jamie. 

“A wonderful close shave,” echoed Andy. 

“ You had grit,” said Jamie. “ You has plenty 
o’ grit, Davy — and a stout heart, like a man. 
’Twere wonderful how you cracked her through! 
The’s nary a man on the coast could have done 
better’n that ! ” 

“ ’Twere easy enough,” David boasted with a 
laugh as he wiped the spray from his face, and 


THE TRACKS IK THE SAND 


89 


unshipping the rudder proceeded to scull the boat 
into a natural berth between the rocks. 

Hardly a breath of the gale raging outside 
reached them in their snug little harbour. The boat 
was made fast with the painter to a ledge, and the 
boys climbed to the high, rocky shore. 

An excellent camping place was discovered a 
hundred yards back in a grove of stunted spruce 
trees that had rooted themselves in the scant soil 
that covered the rocks, and held fast, despite the 
Arctic blasts that swept across the Bay to rake the 
island during the long winters. Here the tent was 
pitched, and everything carried up from the boat 
and stowed within to dry. Fifteen minutes later 
the tent stove was crackling cheerily and sending 
forth comfort to the drenched young mariners. 

“ There'll be no hurry in the marnin’," said Da- 
vid when they had eaten supper and lighted a 
candle. “ We'll stay up to-night till we gets the 
outfit all dried, and if we're late about un we’ll 
sleep a bit later in the marnin', to make up. We’ll 
make Fort Pelican in an hour, or two hours what- 
ever, if we has a civil breeze in the marnin'." 

“ We'll not be gettin' away from Fort Pelican 
to-morrow, will we ? " asked Andy. 

“ We’ll take the day for visitin' the folk and 
hearin’ the news, and start back the marnin’ after," 
suggested David. 

It was near midnight when they crawled into 
their beds to drop into a ten-knot sleep, and they 


90 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


slept so soundly that none of them awoke until they 
were aroused by the sun shining upon the tent the 
next morning. 

Breakfast was prepared and eaten leisurely. 
There was no hurry. The wind had fallen to a 
moderate stiff breeze, and Fort Pelican, through 
the narrows connecting Eskimo Bay with the sea 
outside, was almost in sight. 

When the dishes were washed Andy and Jamie 
took down the tent, while David shouldered a pack 
and preceded them to the place where they had 
moored the boat the previous evening. A few 
minutes later he came running back, and in breath- 
less excitement startled them with the announce- 
ment: 

“ The boat's gone ! ” 

“ Gone where ? ” asked Andy incredulously. 

“Gone! I’m not knowin’ where l” exclaimed 
David. 

“Has she been took?” asked Jamie, excitedly. 

“ Took ! ” said David. “ The painter were un- 
tied and she were took! The’s tracks about of 
big boots with nails in un ! ” 

Andy and Jamie ran down with David. No 
trace of the boat was to be found. 

In the earth above the shore were plainly to be 
seen the tracks of two men wearing hobnailed 
boots. 

“ The’s fresh tracks,” declared David. 

“ Made this marnin’,” Andy agreed. “ The’s 


THE TRACKS IN THE SAND 


91 


the same kind of tracks as the ones I sees under 
Lem's window. Whoever ’twere made these tracks 
shot Lem and took his silver." 

“And now we're left here on the island with no 
way of gettin' off," said David. 

“ What’ll we be doin’ ? How’ll we ever get 
away?" asked Jamie in consternation. 

But that was a question none of them could 


answer. 


VII 


THE MYSTERY OF THE BOAT 
HE boys looked at each other in con- 



sternation. They were marooned on a 


desolate, rocky, sparsely wooded island. 


Boats passed only at rare intervals and a fortnight, 
or even a month, might elapse before an oppor- 
tunity for rescue offered. Their provisions would 
scarcely last a week, and the island was destitute 
of game. 

“ Whoever ’twere took the boat,” Andy sug- 
gested presently, “ were on the island when we 
comes.” 

“Aye,” David agreed, “ and makin’ for Fort 
Pelican. They been up as far as Lem’s and they’s 
gettin’ away with Lem’s silver to sell un.” 

“ ’Tis strange boots they wears,” said Jamie. 
“ Strange boots them is with nails in un.” 

“ ’Twere no man of The Labrador made them 
tracks,” David declared. 

“ I never sees boots with nails in un,” said 
Andy, “ except the boots the lumber folks wears 
over at the new camp at Grampus River.” 

“Aye,” agreed David, “ they wears un. When 
we goes over with Pop last month when the big 


92 


THE MYSTERY OF THE BOAT 


93 


steamer comes I sees un. Plenty of un wears 
boots with nails in.” 

“ That's who 'twere took our boat ! ” said Andy. 
“ 'Twere men from the Grampus River lumber 
camp.” 

“ Let's track un and see where they were 
camped,” suggested David. 

The trail was easily followed. Plere and there 
a footprint appeared where soil had drifted in 
among the rocks above the shore. The trail led 
them three hundred yards to the eastward, and 
then down into a sheltered hollow just above the 
water’s edge, where a small boat was drawn up 
upon the shore. 

“ Here's a boat ! ” exclaimed Jamie, who had run 
ahead. 

"A boat ! ” shouted David. “ They left un and 
took our boat.” 

“And good reason!” said Jamie, who had 
reached the skiff. “ The bottom's half knocked 
out of un.” 

It was evident that the boat had been driven 
upon the rocks in making a landing, and a jagged 
hole a foot square appeared in the bottom, render- 
ing it in that condition quite useless. Near by a 
tent had been pitched, and there was no doubt that 
the men who had abandoned the boat had been in 
camp for a day at least in the sheltered hollow. 

The boys turned the boat over and examined the 
break. 


94 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABEADOE 


“ ’Tis a bad place to mend,” observed David. 

“ But we can mend un,” declared Andy. “We 
can mend un by noon whatever, and get to Fort 
Pelican this evenin’.” 

“ I’m doubtin',” David shook his head. “ 'Twill 
take a day to mend un whatever, and she’ll be none 
too safe. ’Twill be hard to make un water-tight.” 

“We can mend un,” Andy insisted. 

A close examination of the tracks disclosed the 
fact that there had been two men in the party. 
They had reached the island before the rain of 
two days before. This was disclosed by the fact 
that some of the tracks were partially washed 
away by the rain, and the earth was caked where 
the wind and sun had dried it after the rain. 

Natives of the coast, as was the case with David 
and Jamie and Andy, wore home-made sealskin 
boots in summer and buckskin moccasins in winter. 
The sealskin boots had moccasin feet with one 
thickness of skin, and were soft and pliable. None 
of them ever wore soled boots that would admit 
of hobnails. It was plain to the boys, therefore, 
that the men who had made the tracks were not 
natives of the country. 

Early in the summer a lumber company had be- 
gun the erection of a camp at Grampus River, 
which lay twenty miles to the southward from 
The Jug, and on the opposite side of Eskimo Bay. 
A steamship had brought in men and supplies, and 
all summer men had been building camps and pre- 


THE MYSTERY OP THE BOAT 


95 


paring for lumbering operations during the coming 
winter. 

It was the first steamer to enter the Bay and its 
advent had been an occasion of much curiosity on 
the part of the people. Many of them made ex- 
cursions to Grampus River to see the strangers at 
work. Thomas had made such an excursion with 
David and Andy. Strange, rough, blasphemous 
men they seemed to the God-fearing folk of the 
country. These were the men wearing hobnailed 
boots of which David spoke, and there was small 
doubt in the mind of the boys that the men who 
had camped on the island and had stolen the boat 
were from the Grampus River lumber camp. 

It proved a tedious undertaking to repair and 
make seaworthy the damaged boat. The trees on 
the island were, for the most part, small gnarled 
spruce, twisted and stunted by the northern blasts 
which swept the Bay. After some search, how- 
ever, they discovered a white spruce tree suitable 
for their purpose, with a trunk ten inches in 
diameter. David felled it and cut from its butt a 
two-foot length. This he proceeded to split into 
as thin slabs as possible. Then with their jack- 
knives the boys began the tedious task of whittling 
the surfaces of the slabs into smooth boards, first 
trimming them down to an inch and a half in thick- 
ness with the axes. 

“ How'll we make un fast when we gets un 
done?” asked Jamie. “We has no nails.” 


96 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ I’m thinkin’ of that,” said David. “ I’m not 
knowin’ yet, but we’ll find some way.” 

“ I’ve got a way,” Andy announced. “ I been 
thinkin’ and thinkin’ and I found a way to make 
un fast.” 

“ How’ll you make un fast now without nails ? ” 
David asked expectantly. 

“ We’ll tie un with spruce roots, like the Injuns 
puts their canoes together,” explained Andy. 
“ We’ll cut holes in each end of un in the right 
place to tie un fast to the braces of the boat. 
We’ll have to make holes in the bottom of the boat 
each side of the braces for the roots to come 
through so we can make un fast. That’ll hold un. 
Then when we’ve made un fast we’ll caulk un up 
with spruce gum.” 

“ Why can’t we cut strips of sealskin off our 
sleepin’ bags for strings to tie un with ? ” sug- 
gested David. “ ’Twould be easier than makin’ 
spruce root strings, and quicker too, and the seal- 
skin would be strong and hold un tight.” 

“ Yes, and soon’s the sealskin gets wet she’ll 
stretch,” Andy objected. “ Then the boards would 
loosen up and let the water in.” 

“ I never thought of the sealskin stretchin’, but 
she sure would. You’re fine at thinkin’ things 
out, Andy ! ” said David admiringly. “ The spruce 
roots won’t stretch though. ’Tis a fine way to fix 
un now, and she’ll work. The’s no doubtin’ she’ll 
work.” 


THE MYSTERY OF THE BOAT 


97 


“ ’Twill take all day,” Andy calculated, adding 
with pride, “ but once we gets un on they’ll hold. 
I’ll get the roots now and put un to soak.” 

Andy dug around the white spruce tree and in 
a little while gathered a sufficient quantity of long 
string-like roots. He scraped them and then split 
them carefully with his knife. When they were 
split he filled the big kettle with water from a 
spring, placed the roots in it and put them over to 
boil. 

They all worked as hard as they could on the 
boards, and when dinner time came David an- 
nounced that the boards were smooth enough for 
their purpose. 

“ Now all we’ll have to do,” said he as he sliced 
pork for dinner, “ is to make the holes in un and 
fasten un on.” 

“ What were that now?” Jamie interrupted as 
a hoarse blast broke upon the air. 

“ ’Tis the steamer whistle ! ” David dropped 
the knife with which he was slicing pork, and with 
Jamie and Andy at his heels ran to the top of the 
highest rock on the island, where a wide view of 
the Bay lay before them. 

A mile away the lumber company’s big steamer 
was feeling its way cautiously toward the west, 
bound inward to the Grampus River camps. The 
boys waved their caps and shouted at the top of 
their lungs, but no one on the steamer appeared to 
see them. It was not until the great strange vessel 


98 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


had become a mere speck in the distance that they 
turned back to the preparation of dinner. 

“ They didn’t see us,” said David in disappoint- 
ment. 

“ We’re not wantin’ to go to Grampus River, 
whatever,” Andy cheered. “ We’re goin’ to Fort 
Pelican when we has the boat fixed up, and she’s 
’most done.” 

After dinner they settled to the task. Two of 
the narrow boards which they had prepared were 
required to cover the break, which occurred be- 
tween two braces. The edges of the boards where 
they were to join were whittled straight, that the 
joint might be made as tight as possible. Then 
David held them in place while Andy marked the 
position for the holes through which the spruce 
root thongs were to pass. 

Four holes were to be cut in each end of both 
boards, and holes to match in the bottom of the 
boat, and in an hour they were neatly reamed out. 
When Andy removed his thongs from the water 
they were quite soft and pliable, and proved to be 
strong and tough. 

Andy lashed the boards into place, threading the 
thongs through the holes and drawing them around 
the brace several times at each place where pro- 
vision had been made for them. Thus a dozen 
thicknesses of fiber bound the boards to the brace 
at each set of holes. 

It was now necessary to collect the spruce gum 


THE MYSTERY OF THE BOAT 


99 


and prepare it. Gum was plentiful enough, and in 
half an hour they had collected enough to half fill 
the frying-pan. To this was added a little lard, 
and the gum and grease melted over the fire and 
thoroughly mixed. 

“What you puttin’ the grease in for?” asked 
Jamie curiously. 

“ So when we pours un in the cracks and she 
hardens she won’t be brittle and crack,” David ex- 
plained. 

The hot mixture was now poured into the joints 
between the boards and at all points where the new 
boards came into contact with the boat, and into 
the holes where the lashings occurred. In a few 
minutes it hardened, and the boys surveyed their 
work with pride and satisfaction. 

“ Now we’ll try un,” said David, “ and see if she 
leaks.” 

“ She’ll never leak where she’s mended,” asserted 
Andy. 

They slipped the boat into the water and Andy’s 
prediction proved true. Not a drop of water oozed 
through the joints, and the boat was as snug and 
tight and seaworthy as any boat that ever floated. 

“ ’Tis too late to start to-night,” said David, 
“ but we’ll be away at crack o’ dawn in the marnin’, 
whatever. ’Tis fine they left the sail and oars.” 

And at crack of dawn in the morning the boys 
were away. The day was misty and disagreeable, 
but David and Andy knew the way as well as you 


100 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


and I know our city streets. They rounded the 
Devil's Arm, a friendly tide helped them through 
the narrows, and in mid-forenoon the low white 
buildings of Fort Pelican appeared in misty outline 
through the fog. A few minutes later they swung 
alongside the Fort Pelican jetty, and there, to their 
amazement, firmly tied to the jetty, lay their own 
big boat. 

No one about the Post could explain whence the 
boat had come or how it reached the jetty. The 
Post servants stated that they had not noticed it 
until after the departure of the lumber steamer. 
They had recognized it as Thomas Angus’ boat, 
for in that country men know each other’s boats 
as our country folk know their neighbours’ 
horses. 

The lumber ship had arrived on the morning of 
the gale, and had anchored in the harbour awaiting 
the arrival of one of the company’s officers on the 
mail boat. The mail boat had arrived the previous 
morning, and both the mail boat and lumber ship 
had steamed away shortly after the mail boat’s ar- 
rival. Many lumbermen had been ashore. If 
any of them had come in the boat they had mingled 
among the others and had departed either on the 
lumber ship, which had gone up the Bay to Gram- 
pus River, or on the mail boat to Newfoundland. 

“ I’m thinkin’,” said David, “ whoever ’twere 
took Lem’s silver fox and our boat went to New- 
foundland to sell the fur.” 

“ The’s no doubtin’ that ” agreed Andy. 


VIII 


TRAILING THE HALF-BREED 

E LI HORN paused in the enclosed porch to 
shoulder his provision pack, left there 
upon his arrival home earlier in the even- 
ing. He was passing from the porch when Doctor 
Joe opened the door. 

“ Eli,” said Doctor Joe, closing the door behind 
him, “ may I have a word with you ? ” 

“Aye, sir,” and Eli stopped. 

“ I just wished to speak a word of warning,” 
said Doctor Joe quietly. “ Be cautious, Eli, and 
do nothing you’ll regret. Don’t be too hasty. 
We suspect Indian Jake, but none of us know cer- 
tainly that he shot your father or took the silver 
fox skin.” 

“ The’s no doubtin’ he took un ! Pop says he 
took un, and he knows. I’m goin’ to get the silver 
if I has to kill Injun Jake.” 

Eli spoke in even, quiet tones, but with the 
dogged determination of the man trained to pit 
his powers of endurance against Nature and the 
wilderness. He’ gave no suggestion of boastful- 
ness, but rather of the man who has an ordinary 

IOI 


102 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


duty to perform, and is bent upon doing it to the 
best of his ability. 

“ Don’t you think you had better wait and start 
in the morning? It’s a nasty night to be out,” 
Doctor Joe suggested. “ ’Twill be hard to make 
your way to-night with the wind against you as 
well as the dark. If you wait until morning it 
will give us time to talk things over.” 

“ I’ll not stop till I gets the silver,” Eli stub- 
bornly declared, “ and I’ll get un or kill Injun 
Jake.” 

“ See here, Eli,” Doctor Joe laid his hand on 
Eli’s arm, “ your father says he was not shot until 
sundown. Indian Jake was at our camp at Flat 
Point within the hour after sundown. He never 
could have paddled that distance against a down 
wind in an hour. The boys and I were four hours 
coming over here from Flat Point Camp, and I 
know Indian Jake could not have covered the dis- 
tance in anything like an hour.” 

“’Twere some trick of his! He shot un and 
he took the silver ! ” Eli insisted. “ Good-bye, sir. 
I’ve got to be goin’ or he’ll slip away from me.” 

“ Be careful, Eli,” Doctor Joe pleaded. “ Don’t 
shoot unless you’re forced to do so to protect 
yourself.” 

“ ’Twill be Injun Jake’ll have to be careful,” re- 
turned Eli as he strode away in the darkness, and 
Doctor Joe knew that Eli had it in his heart to do 
murder. 


TRAILING THE HALF-BREED 


103 


The night was pitchy black and a drizzling rain 
was falling, but Eli had often travelled on as dark 
nights, and he was determined. He chose a light 
skiff rigged with a leg-o’-mutton sail. The wind 
was against him and with the sail reefed and the 
mast unstepped and stowed in the bottom of the 
boat, he slipped a pair of oars into the locks and 
with strong, even strokes pulled away, hugging the 
shore, that he might take advantage of the lee of 
the land. 

Presently the drizzle became a downpour, but 
Eli, oblivious to wind and weather, rowed tirelessly 
on. There was a dangerous turn to be made 
around Flat Point. Here for a time he lost the 
friendly shelter of the land, and continuous and 
tremendous effort was called for in the rough seas ; 
but, guided by the roar of the breakers on the shore, 
he compassed it and presently fell again under the 
protection of the land. 

With all his effort Eli had not progressed a 
quarter of the distance toward The Jug when 
dawn broke. With the first light he made a safe 
landing, cut a stick of standing dead timber, 
chopped off the butt, and splitting it that he might 
get at the dry core, whittled some shavings and 
lighted a fire. His provision bag was well filled. 
No Labradorman travels otherwise. A kettle of 
hot tea sweetened with molasses, a pan of fried 
fat pork and some hard bread (hardtack) satisfied 
his hunger. 


104 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

The wind was rising and the rain was flying in 
blinding sheets, but the shore still protected him, 
and the moment his simple breakfast was eaten Eli 
again set forward. Presently, however, another 
long point projected out into the Bay to force him 
into the open. He turned about in his boat and 
for several minutes studied the white-capped seas 
beyond the point. 

“ I’ll try un,” he muttered, and settled again to 
his oars. 

But try as he would Eli could not force his light 
craft against the wind and at length he reluctantly 
dropped back again under the lee of the land and 
went ashore. 

“ There’ll be no goin’ on to-day,” he admitted. 
“ I’ll have to make camp whatever.” 

Under the shelter of the thick spruce forest 
where he was fended from the gale and drive of 
the rain, he cut a score of poles. One of them, 
thicker and stiffer than the others, he lashed be- 
tween two trees at a height of perhaps four feet. 
At intervals of three or four inches he rested the 
remaining poles against the one lashed to the trees, 
arranging them at an angle of fifty-five degrees 
and aligning the butts of the poles evenly upon the 
ground. These he covered with a mass of boughs 
and marsh grass as a thatching. The roof thatched 
to his satisfaction, he broke a quantity of boughs 
and with some care prepared a bed under the 
lean-to. 


TRAILING THE HALF-BREED 


105 


His shelter and bed completed, he cut and piled 
a quantity of dry logs at one end of the lean-to. 
Then he felled two green trees and cut the trunks 
into four-foot lengths. Two of these he placed 
directly in front of the shelter and two feet apart, 
at right angles to the shelter. Across the ends of 
the logs farthest from his bed he piled three of the 
green sticks to serve as a backlog, and in front of 
these lighted his fire. When it was blazing freely 
he piled upon it, and in front of the green backlogs, 
several of the logs of dry wood. 

Despite the rain, the fire burned freely, and pres- 
ently the interior of Eli’s lean-to was warm and 
comfortable. He now removed his rain-soaked 
jacket and moleskin trousers and suspended them 
from the ridge-pole, where they would receive the 
benefit of the heat and gradually dry. 

Stripped to his underclothing, Eli crouched be- 
fore the fire beneath the front of the shelter. At 
intervals he turned his back and sides and chest to- 
ward the heat and in the course of an hour suc- 
ceeded in drying his underclothing to his satisfac- 
tion. His moleskin trousers were still damp, but 
he donned them, and renewing the fire he stretched 
himself luxuriously for a long and much needed 
rest. 


IX 


ELI SURPRISES INDIAN JAKE 

W HEN Eli awoke late in the afternoon the 
rain had ceased, but the wind was blow- 
ing a living gale. There was a roar 
and boom and thunder of breakers down on the 
point and echoing far away along the coast. The 
wind shrieked and moaned through the forest. 

Under his shelter beneath the thick spruce trees, 
however, Eli was well enough protected. He re- 
newed the fire, which had burned to embers, and 
prepared dinner. The storm that prevented him 
from travelling would also hold Indian Jake a pris- 
oner. This thought yielded him a degree of satis- 
faction. 

He took no advantage of the leisure to recon- 
sider and weigh the circumstantial evidence against 
Indian Jake. He had accepted it as conclusive 
proof of the half-breed’s guilt and he had already 
convicted him of the crime. Once Eli had arrived 
at a conclusion his mind was closed to any line of 
reasoning that might tend to controvert that con- 
clusion. He prided himself upon this character- 
istic as strength of will, while in reality it was a 
weakness. But Eli was like many another man 
106 


ELI SUBPRISES INDIAN JAKE 107 


who has enjoyed greater opportunities in the world 
than ever fell to Eli’s lot. 

Once Eli had set himself upon a trail he never 
turned his back upon the object he sought or weak- 
ened in his determination to attain it. His object 
now was to overtake Indian Jake and have the 
matter out with the half-breed once and for all. 
Well directed, this trait of unyielding determina- 
tion is an excellent one. It is the foundation of 
success in life if the object sought is a worthy one. 
But in this instance Eli’s objective was not alone 
the recovery of the silver fox skin, though this was 
the chief incentive. Coupled with it was a desire 
for vengeance, prompted by hate, and vengeance is 
the child of the weakest and meanest of human 
passions. 

When Eli had eaten he shouldered his rifle and 
strolled back into the forest. Presently he flushed 
a covey of spruce grouse, which rose from the 
ground and settled in a tree. Flinging his rifle to 
his shoulder, he fired and a grouse tumbled to the 
ground. He fired again, and another fell. The 
living birds, with a great noise of wings, now aban- 
doned the tree and Eli picked up the two victims. 
He had clipped their heads off neatly. This he ob- 
served with satisfaction. His rifle shot true and 
his aim was steady. What chance could Indian 
Jake have against such skill as that? 

Eli plucked the birds immediately, while they 
were warm, for delay would set the feathers, and 


108 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


his game being sufficient for his present needs, he 
returned to his bivouac on the point. 

It was mid-afternoon the following day before 
the wind and rain had so far subsided as to permit 
Eli to turn the point and proceed upon his journey. 
Even then, with all his effort, the progress he made 
against the northwest breeze was so slow that it 
was not until the following forenoon that he 
reached The Jug. Thomas saw him coming and 
was on the jetty to welcome him. 

“ How be you, Eli ? ” Thomas greeted. “ I’m 
wonderful glad to see you. Come right up and 
have a cup o’ tea.” 

“ How be you, Thomas? Is Injun Jake here? ” 
“ He were here,” said Thomas, “ but he only 
stops one day to help me get the outfit ready and 
then he goes on in his canoe to hunt bear up the 
Nascaupee River whilst he waits there for me to 
go to the Seal Lake trails. You want to see he? ” 
“Aye, and Pm goin’ to see whatever ! ” 

While Eli had a snack to eat and a cup of tea 
with Thomas and Margaret he told Thomas of In- 
dian Jake’s call upon his father, of the shooting 
and of the robbery which followed. 

“ Injun Jake turns back after leavin’ and shoots 
Pop and takes the silver,” he concluded, “ and I’m 
goin’ to get the silver whatever, even if I has to 
shoot Injun Jake to get un! ” 

“ Is you sure, now, ’twere Injun Jake does un? ” 
asked Thomas, unwilling to believe his friend and 


ELI SURPRISES INDIAN JAKE 109 


partner capable of such treachery, and by disposi- 
tion Thomas was naturally cautious of passing 
judgment or of accusing any one of misdeed with- 
out conclusive proof. 

“ The's no doubtin' that ! ” insisted Eli. “ There 
was nobody else to do un. 'Twere Injun Jake." 

A shift of wind to the southward assisted Eli on 
his way. Early that evening he reached the Hud- 
son's Bay Company's post, twenty miles west of 
The Jug. Here he stopped for supper and learned 
from Zeke Hodge, the Post servant, that Indian 
Jake had passed up Grand Lake in his canoe two 
days before. Zeke expressed doubt as to Eli’s 
finding the half-breed at the Nascaupee River. He 
stated it as his opinion that if Indian Jake were 
guilty of the crime, as he had no doubt, he was 
planning an escape and had in all probability imme- 
diately plunged into the interior, in which case he 
was already hopelessly beyond pursuit and had 
fled the Bay country for good and all. Like Eli, 
Zeke convicted the half-breed at once. 

The Eskimo Bay Post of the Hudson's Bay 
Company is the last inhabited dwelling as the trav- 
eller enters the wilderness, and he might go on and 
on for a thousand miles to Hudson Bay and in the 
whole vast expanse' of distance no other human 
habitation will he find. His camps will be pitched 
in the depths of forests or on desolate, naked bar- 
rens ; and forever, in forests or on barrens, he will 
hear the rush and roar of mighty rivers or the lap- 


110 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


ping waves of wide, far-reaching lakes. The tim- 
ber wolf will startle him from sleep in the dead of 
night with its long, weird howl, rising and falling 
in dismal cadence, or the silence will be broken per- 
chance by the wild, uncanny laugh of the loon fall- 
ing upon the darkness as a token of ill omen, but 
in all the vast land he will hear no human voice 
and he will find no human companionship. 

Indian Jake had told Thomas that he would 
camp above the mouth of the Nascaupee River, a 
dozen miles beyond the point where the river enters 
Grand Lake. It was a journey of sixty miles or 
more from the Post. 

Eli set out at once. Five miles up a short wide 
river brought him to Grand Lake, which here 
reached away before him to meet the horizon in 
the west, and at the foot of the lake he camped to 
await day, for the lake and the country before him 
were unfamiliar. 

Early in the afternoon of the third day after 
leaving the Post, Eli’s boat turned into the wide 
mouth of the Nascaupee River, and keeping a 
sharp lookout, he rowed silently up the river. It 
was an hour before sundown when his eye caught 
the white of canvas among the trees a little way 
from the river. 

With much caution Eli drew his boat among the 
willows that lined the bank and made it fast. 
Slinging his cartridge bag over his shoulder, and 
with his rifle resting in the hollow of his arm, 


ELI SUBPBISES INDIAN JAKE 111 


ready for instant action, he crept forward toward 
Indian Jake’s camp. Taking advantage of the 
cover of brush, he moved with extreme caution 
until he had the tent and surroundings under ob- 
servation. 

There was no movement about the camp and the 
fire was dead. It was plain Indian Jake had not 
returned for the evening. Eli crouched and 
waited, as a cat crouches and waits patiently for 
its prey. 

Presently there was the sound of a breaking 
twig and a moment later Indian Jake, with his rifle 
on his arm, appeared out of the forest. 

Eli, his rifle levelled at Indian Jake, rose to his 
feet with the command: 

“ You stand where you is; drop your gun! ” 

“ Why, how do, Eli ! What’s up ? ” Indian Jake 
greeted. “ What’s bringin’ you to the Nascau- 
pee? ” 

“ You ! ” Eli’s face was hard with hate. “ ’Tis 
you brings me here, you thief ! I wants the silver 
you takes when you shoots father, and ’tis well for 
you Doctor Joe comes and saves he from dyin’ or 
I’d been droppin’ a bullet in your heart with nary 
a warnin’ ! ” 

“ What you meanin’ by that ? ” 

“ Be you givin’ up the silver ? ” 

“ No!” 

“ I say again, give me that silver fox you stole 
from father ! ” 


112 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


Indian Jake's small hawk eyes were narrowing. 
He made no answer, but slipped his right hand for- 
ward toward the trigger of his rifle, though the 
barrel of the rifle still rested in the hollow of his 
left arm. 

“ Drop un ! ” Eli commanded, observing the 
movement. “ Drop that gun on the ground ! ” 
Indian Jake stood like a statue, eyeing Eli, but 
he made no movement. 

“ I said drop un ! ” Eli’s voice was cold and 
hard as steel. He was in deadly earnest. “If 
you tries to raise un, or don’t drop un before I 
count ten I’ll put a bullet in your heart ! ” 

Indian Jake might have been of chiselled 
stone. He did not move a muscle or wink an eye- 
lash, but his small eyes were centered on every mo- 
tion Eli made. He still held his rifle, the barrel 
resting in the hollow of his left arm, his right hand 
clutching the stock behind the hammer, his finger 
an inch from the trigger. 

For an instant there was a death-like silence, 
then Eli began to count : 

“ One — two — three — four ” 

The words fell like strokes of a hammer upon an 
anvil. Eli intended to shoot. He was a man of 
his word. He made no threat that he was not pre- 
pared to execute, and Indian Jake knew that Eli 
would shoot on the count of ten. 

“ Five — six — seven — eight ” 

Still Indian Jake made no move save that the 



YOU STAND WHERE YOU IS AND DROP YOUR GUN 



















































































ELI SURPRISES INDIAN JAKE 113 

little hawk eyes had narrowed to slits. He did not 
drop his gun. From all the indications, he did not 
hear Eli’s count. 

“ Nine — ten ! ” 

True to his threat, Eli’s rifle rang out with the 
last word of his count. 


X 


THE END OF ELI’S HUNT 

I NDIAN JAKE, quick as a cat, had thrown 
himself upon the ground with Eli’s last count. 
Like the loon that dives at the flash of the 
hunter’s gun, he was a fraction of a second quicker 
than Eli. Now, lying prone, his rifle at his shoul- 
der, he had Eli covered, and the chamber of Eli’s 
rifle was empty. 

“ Drop that gun ! ” he commanded. 

Eli, believing in the first instant that Indian Jake 
had fallen as the result of the shot, was taken 
wholly by surprise. He stood dazed and dumb 
with the smoking rifle in his hand. He did not at 
once realize that the half-breed had him covered. 
His brain did not work as rapidly as Indian Jake’s. 
His immediate sensation as he heard Indian Jake’s 
voice was one of thankfulness that, after all, there 
was no stain of murder on his soul. Even yet he 
had no doubt Indian Jake was wounded. He had 
taken deadly aim, and he could not understand how 
any escape could have been possible. 

“Drop that gun!” Indian Jake repeated. “I 
won’t count. I’ll shoot.” 

Eli’s brain at last grasped the situation. Indian 
114 


THE END OF ELI’S HUNT 


115 


Jake was grinning broadly, and it seemed to Eli the 
most malicious grin he had ever beheld. He did 
not question Indian Jake’s determination to shoot. 
It was too evident that the half-breed, grinning like 
a demon, was in a desperate mood. Eli dropped 
his rifle as though it were red hot and burned his 
hands. 

“ Step out here!” Indian Jake, rising to his 
feet, indicated an open space near the tent. 

Eli did as he was told. 

“ Shake the ca’tridges out of your bag on the 
ground ! ” 

Eli turned his cartridge bag over, and the car- 
tridges which it contained rattled to the ground. 

“ Turn your pockets out ! ” 

A turning of the pockets disclosed no further 
ammunition. 

Indian Jake took Eli’s rifle from the ground, 
emptied the magazine, and placed the rifle in the 
tent. 

“ Where’s your boat ? ” he asked. 

“ Just down here.” 

“ You go ahead. Show me.” 

Eli guided Indian Jake to the boat, and while he 
remained on the bank under threat of the rifle, the 
half-breed went through his belongings in the boat 
in a further search for ammunition. Satisfied that 
there was none, he replaced the things as he had 
found them, and was grinning amiably when he 
rejoined Eli upon the bank. 


116 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ Come 'long up to camp," he invited, quite as 
though Eli were a most welcome guest. 

“ Give me that silver fox ! ” Eli’s anger had 
mastered his surprise. 

“ I won’t give un to you, but don’t be mad, Eli,” 
Indian Jake grinned in vast enjoyment. 

“ You stole un ! ” Eli burst out. “And you were 
thinkin’ to do murder ! ’’ 

“ Did I now? ’’ 

“ You did!’’ 

Indian Jake did not deign to deny or confess. 
Eli, at his command, returned to camp. Indian 
Jake handed him the teakettle. 

“ Fill un at the river,’’ he directed. 

While Eli obeyed silently and sullenly, Indian 
Jake lighted a fire, and when Eli returned put the 
kettle on. Then he brought forth his frying-pan, 
filled it with sliced venison, and as he placed it 
over the fire, remarked: 

“ Knocked a buck down this mornin’.” 

Eli said nothing. The odour of frying venison 
was pleasant. Eli was hungry, and when the veni- 
son was fried and tea made, he swallowed his pride 
and silently accepted Indian Jake’s invitation to 
eat. 

When they had finished, Indian Jake cut a large 
joint of venison, and presented it to Eli with his 
empty rifle, remarking as he did so : 

“ The deer’s meat’s a surprise. I like to sur- 
prise folks. Taste good goin’ home. I’ll keep the 


THE END OF ELI’S HUNT 


117 


ca’tridges. You might hurt somebody if you had 
un. You’ll get quite a piece down before you 
camp to-night.” 

“Were you takin’ that silver?” asked Eli, 
changing his accusation to a question. 

“ Maybe I were and maybe I weren’t,” Indian 
Jake grinned. “ ’Twouldn’t do me any good to 
tell you if I had un, and if I told you I didn’t have 
un you wouldn’t believe me. Maybe I’ve got un. 
You better be goin’. I’d ask you to stay, Eli, and 
I’d like to have you, but you don’t like me and 
you’d better go on.” 

“ I don’t want the deer’s meat,” said Eli in sul- 
len resentment. 

“ You ain’t got any ca’tridges, and you can’t 
shoot any fresh meat,” insisted Indian Jake, adding 
with a grin: “ She’ll go good. Take un along, I 
got plenty. It’s just a little surprise present for 
you bein’ so kind as not to shoot me.” 

Eli, doubtless deciding that he had better take 
what he could get, though a bit of venison was 
small compensation for a silver fox, accepted the 
meat. Indian Jake accompanied him to the boat, 
and as he dropped down the river he could see In- 
dian Jake still on the bank watching him until he 
turned a bend. 

Without cartridges for his rifle, Eli felt himself 
as helpless as a wolf without teeth or a cat without 
claws. He was subdued and humbled. He had 
had Indian Jake completely in his power, and 


118 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


through delay in taking prompt advantage of his 
position, had permitted the half-breed to capture 
and disarm him. 

The thought increased his anger toward Indian 
Jake. He had no doubt the man had the silver fox 
in his possession. If there had been any doubt in 
the first instance that Indian Jake was guilty, and 
Eli had never admitted that there was doubt, he 
was now entirely satisfied of the half-breed’s guilt. 
Indian Jake, indeed, had quite boldly stated that 
he “ might ” have it, and Eli accepted this as an 
admission that he did have it. 

“ There’ll be no use gettin’ more ca’tridges and 
goin’ back,” Eli mused. “ He’s had a warnin’ and 
he’ll not bide in that camp another day. He’ll flee 
the country.” 

Then Eli’s thoughts turned to his old father and 
mother. 

“ The silver’s gone, and it leaves Pop and 
Mother in a bad way,” he mused. “ They’ve been 
fondlin’ that skin half the winter. Pop’s had un 
out a hundred times to see how fine and black 
’twere, and shook un out to see how thick and deep 
the fur is. And they been countin’ and countin’ 
on the things they’d be gettin’ and needs, and can’t 
get now she’s gone. And they been countin’ on 
the money they’d have to lay by for their feeble 
days when they needs un. They’ll never get over 
mournin’ the loss of un. ’Twere worth a fortune, 
and Pop’ll never cotch another. He were hopin’ 


THE END OF ELI’S HUNT 


119 


and hopin' every year as long as I remembers to 
cotch a silver, and none ever comes to his traps till 
this un comes. And now she's gone ! " 

Perhaps had the silver fox skin been Eli's own, 
and perhaps had his father and mother not built so 
many hopes and laid so many plans upon the little 
fortune it was to have brought them, Eli would 
never have ventured to the verge of murder to re- 
cover it. Even now, with all his regrets, he 
thanked God from the bottom of his heart that he 
had not killed Indian Jake and stained his hands 
with blood. 

“ 'Twere the mercy of God sent the bullet 
abroad,'' said he reverently. “ Indian Jake's a 
thief and he deserves to be killed, but if I'd killed 
he I'd never rested an easy hour again while I 
lives. 

“ But I might o' clipped his trigger hand, what- 
ever,” he thought with regret. “ I can clip off the 
head of a pa'tridge every time, and I might have 
clipped his hand, and got the skin and took he back 
for Doctor Joe to fix up." 

Three days later Eli pulled his boat wearily into 
The Jug. The boys had returned, and with 
Thomas they met him on the jetty. 

“ Did you find Injun Jake? " Thomas asked anx- 
iously. 

“Aye,” said Eli, “ he were there." 

Eli volunteered no further details for a moment. 
Then he added : 


120 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

“ I didn’t kill he, thank the Lard, but he’s got 
the silver. He said he had un, and he took my 
ca’tridges away from me.” 

“ Said he had un? Now, that’s strange — won- 
derful strange. Come in, Eli, supper’s ready,” 
Thomas invited, manifestly relieved that Eli had 
not succeeded in accomplishing his rash purpose. 
“ You’ll bide the night with us, and while you eats 
tell us about un, and the lads’ll tell what were hap- 
penin’ to- they.” 

Margaret was setting the table. She greeted Eli 
cordially, and arranged a plate for him while he 
washed at the basin behind the stove. 

“ Come,” invited Thomas, “ set in. We’ve got 
a wonderful treat.” 

“ What be that, now ? ” asked Eli as Margaret 
placed a dish of steaming, mealy boiled potatoes 
upon the table. 

“ Potaters,” Thomas announced grandly. “ Doc- 
tor Joe brings un on the mail boat from where he’s 
been, and onions, too. Margaret, peel some onions 
and set un on for Eli. They’s fine just as they is 
without cookin’.” 

The onions came, and when thanks had been 
offered Eli tasted his first potato. 

“They is fine, now! Wonderful fine eatin’,” 
he declared. 

“ Try an onion, now. They’s fine, too,” Thomas 
urged. 

Eli took an onion. 


THE END OF ELI’S HUNT 


121 


“ She has a strange smell,” he observed before 
biting into it. 

Eli took a liberal mouthful of the onion. He 
began to chew it. A strained look spread over his 
face. Tears filled his eyes. But Eli was brave, 
and he never flinched. 

“ ’Tis fine, I likes un wonderful fine,” Eli vol- 
unteered presently, adding, “ if she didn’t burn so 
bad.” 

“ Take just a bit at a time,” advised Thomas, 
laughing heartily, “ and eat un with bread or po- 
taters and you won’t notice the burn of un.” 

Presently Eli told of his experiences with Indian 
Jake, and Andy told of the tracks he had seen un- 
der the window, and all of the boys told of what 
had happened on the island, the theft of the boat, 
the tracks of the nailed boots and the discovery of 
the boat at Fort Pelican. 

Then Eli made an announcement that again laid 
the burden of suspicion more strongly than ever 
upon Indian Jake. 

“ I were workin’ at the lumber camps a week this 
summer helpin’ they out,” said Eli. “ Whilst I 
were there Indian Jake comes and trades a pair of 
skin boots with one of the lumber men for a pair 
of their boots, the kind with nails in un. He the 
same as says he has the fur, and ’twere he took un.” 

“ Injun Jake wears skin boots when he come to 
our camp on Flat P’int,” said David. 

“Aye, ’tis likely,” admitted Eli. “ He’d be 


122 TEOOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


wearin’ skin boots in the canoe, whatever. The 
nailed boots would be hard on the canoe. He uses 
the nailed boots trampin’ about, but he’d change un 
when he travels in his canoe.” 

The whole question was canvassed pro and con, 
and due consideration given to the length of time 
that Indian Jake must have consumed in passing 
from Horn’s Bight to Flat Point. This was alone 
sufficient in the mind of Thomas and the boys to 
lift all suspicion from Indian Jake, but Eli still 
held stubbornly to the opposite view. 

Two days later, and on the eve of Thomas’s de- 
parture for the trails, Doctor Joe returned. Lem 
had so far recovered that a further stay at Horn’s 
Bight was unnecessary. 

Thomas and Doctor Joe quietly discussed the 
shooting incident. Lem, it appeared, had later de- 
cided that he may have been shot much earlier in 
the afternoon than sundown. What had occurred 
had fallen into the hazy uncertainty of a dream. 

“ What kind of a rifle does Indian Jake use? ” 
asked Doctor Joe. 

“A thirty-eight fifty-five,” said Thomas. 

Doctor Joe drew from his pocket the bullet ex- 
tracted from Lem’s wound. Thomas examined it 
critically. 

“ There’s no doubtin’ ’tis a thirty-eight fifty- 
five,” he admitted. “ ’Tis true Injun Jake gets a 
pair of nailed boots like the lumber folk wears. 
But Injun Jake’ll tell me whether ’twere he shot 


THE END OF ELF 8 HUNT 


123 


Lem. Injun Jake’ll be fair about un with me 
whatever. ’Tis hard for me to believe he did un. 
If he did, he’ll be gone from the Nascaupee when I 
gets there. If he didn’t, I’ll find he waitin’ ! ” 

“ Let us hope he’ll be there, and let us hope he’s 
innocent,” said Doctor Joe. 

Some day and in some way every sin is punished 
and every criminal is discovered. It is an immu- 
table law of God that he who does wrong must 
atone for the wrong. We do not always know 
how the punishment is brought about, but the 
guilty one knows. And so with the shooting and 
robbery of Lem Horn. Many months were to 
pass before the mystery was to be solved, and then 
the revelation was to come in a startling manner in 
the course of an adventure amid the deep snows of 
winter. 

Thomas sailed away the following morning. 
They watched his boat pass down through The Jug 
and out into the Bay, and then the silence of the 
wilderness closed upon him, and no word came as 
to whether or no Indian Jake met him at the Nas- 
caupee River camp. 


XI 


THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 

I N Labrador September is the pleasantest 
month of the year. It is a period of calm 
when fogs and mists and cold dreary rains, 
so frequent during July and the early half of Au- 
gust, are past, and Nature holds her breath before 
launching upon the world the bitter blasts and 
blizzards and awful cold of a sub-arctic winter. 
There are days and days together when the azure 
of the sky remains unmarred by clouds, and the 
sun shines uninterruptedly. The air, brilliantly 
transparent, carries a twang of frost. Evening is 
bathed in an effulgence of colour. The sky flames 
in startling reds and yellows blending into opals 
and turquoise, with the shadowy hills lying in a 
purple haze in the west. 

Then comes night and the aurora. Wavering 
fingers of light steal up from the northern horizon. 
Higher and higher they climb until they have 
reached and crossed the zenith. From the north 
they spread to the east and to the west until the 
whole sky is aflame with shimmering fire of mar- 
vellous changing colours varying from darkest pur- 
ple to dazzling white. 


124 


THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 


125 


The dark green of the spruce and balsam forests 
is splotched with golden yellow where the magic 
touch of the frost king has laid his fingers and 
worked a miracle upon groves of tamaracks. The 
leaves of the aspen and white birch have fallen, 
and the flowers have faded. 

Spruce grouse chickens, full grown now, rise 
in coveys with much noise of wing, and perch in 
trees looking down unafraid upon any who in- 
trudes upon their forest home. Ptarmigans, still 
in their coat of mottled brown and white, gather 
in flocks upon the naked hills to feed, where up- 
land cranberries cover the ground in red masses; 
or on the edge of marshes where bake apple ber- 
ries have changed from brilliant red to delicate sal- 
mon pink and offer a sweet and wholesome feast. 

The honk and quack of wild geese and ducks, 
southward bound in great flocks, disturbs the si- 
lence of every inlet and cove and bight, where the 
wild fowl pause for a time to rest and feed upon 
the grasses. 

After Thomas’s departure Doctor Joe and the 
boys tidied and snugged things up for the winter, 
and many a fine hunt they had, mornings and even- 
ings, in the edge of a near-by marsh through 
which a brook coursed to join the sea. Hunting 
geese and ducks was indeed a duty, for they must 
needs depend upon the hunt for no small share of 
their living. It was a duty they enjoyed, how- 
ever. Skill and a steady hand and a quick eye are 


126 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

necessary to success and they never failed to return 
with a full bag. 

The weather was now cold enough to keep the 
birds sweet and fresh, and before September closed 
a full two score of fine fat geese were hanging in 
the enclosed lean-to shed with a promise of many 
good dinners in the future. 

Between the hunting and the work about home 
there was no time to be dawdled vainly away. 
When there was nothing more pressing the wood- 
pile always stood suggestively near the door in- 
viting attention and it was necessary to saw and 
split a vast deal of wood to keep the big box stove 
supplied, for it had a great maw and would develop 
a marvellous appetite when the weather grew 
cold. 

No extended travelling was possible for Doctor 
Joe on his errands of mercy until the sea should 
freeze and dogs and sledge could be called into 
service. But during the fine September weather 
he and the boys made two short trips up the Bay, 
where there was ailing in some of the families. 

In the course of these excursions they took oc- 
casion to visit Let-In-Cove, which lay just outside 
Grampus River, where the new lumber camps were 
situated, and also Snug Cove and Tuggle Bight, a 
little farther on. At Let-In-Cove Peter and Lige 
Sparks, at Snug Cove Obadiah Button and Micah 
Dunk, and at Tuggle Bight Seth Muggs were 
enlisted in the scout troop, and a Handbook left at 


THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 


127 


each place. These, indeed, with the three Anguses, 
were the only boys of scout age within a radius of 
fifty miles of The Jug. 

There was great excitement among the lads, and 
Doctor Joe proudly declared that there would be 
no finer or more efficient troop of scouts in all the 
world than his little troop of eight when they had 
become familiar with their duties. 

A new field and a broader vision of life was 
to open to these Labrador lads, whose life was of 
necessity circumscribed. They had never been 
given the opportunity to play as boys play in more 
favoured lands. They had never known the joys 
of baseball or basket-ball or the hundred other fine, 
health-giving games that are a part of the life of 
every American or Canadian boy. They had never 
seen a circus or a moving picture and they had 
never been in a schoolroom in their lives. 

This opportunity to play and study as other boys 
play and study in other lands was the thing, per- 
haps, they longed for above all else. Doctor Joe 
had inspired them with ambition. They hungered 
to learn, and here was the Handbook with many 
things in it to study, and through Doctor Joe and 
the book they were to learn the joy of play. 

The new recruits to the troop, however, as well 
as the Angus boys, had been close students of their 
native wilderness. Their eyes were sharp and their 
ears were quick. They knew every tree and flower 
and plant that grew about them. They knew the 


128 TROOP ORE OF THE LABRADOR 


birds and their calls and songs. They knew every 
animal, its cry and its habits of life. They knew 
the fish of the sea and lake and stream. All this 
was a part of their training for their future pro- 
fession of hunters and fishermen. 

As hunters they had not learned to look upon 
the wild things of the woods as friends and asso- 
ciates. To them the animals were only beasts 
whose valuable pelts could be traded at the post for 
necessaries of life or whose flesh was good to eat. 
Success in life depended upon man’s ability to out- 
wit and slay birds or animals and the lads held for 
them none of the human sympathy that would have 
added so much to their own enjoyment. 

Now they were to have a new view of life. Doc- 
tor Joe was to open to them a wider, happier vista. 
It was not in the least to breed in them discontent 
with their circumscribed life, but rather to open to 
their consciousness the opportunities that lay within 
their reach, and to make their life richer and 
broader and vastly more worth while. 

Doctor Joe explained to the five recruits the 
Tenderfoot Scout requirements, much as he had 
explained them to David and Andy and Jamie. 
Wilderness dwellers who must take in and fix in 
the mind at a glance every unusual tree or stump 
or stone if they would find their trail, have a pecul- 
iar and remarkable gift of memory born of long 
practice and the fact that they must perforce de- 
pend upon their ability to retain the things they 


THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 129 

see and hear. The lads, therefore, required no 
repetition, and learned their lessons with ease. 

Though they had never attended school they 
could all read, stumbling, to be sure, over the big 
words, but nevertheless grasping the meaning. 
Doctor Joe, during his years in the Bay, had taught 
not only the Angus boys but many of the other 
young people to read. Doctor Joe now marked the 
pages that they were to study and before he and 
the Angus boys turned back across the Bay to The 
Jug it was agreed that the new troop should hold 
a week’s camp to study and practice together. Hol- 
low Cove, some five miles from The Jug, was to 
be the camping ground, and the first week in Octo- 
ber was decided upon as the time. 

“ We’ll start to camp on Monday marnin’ of 
that week,” suggested David. “ Come over to The 
Jug on Sunday. ’Twill be fine to have us all go to 
camp together.” 

“Aye,” agreed Micah, “ ’twill be now, and we’ll 
come, and have a fine time.” 

“ And we’ll all study about the scout things 
whilst we’re in camp,” piped up Jamie enthusiastic- 
ally. 

“ That we will now,” David assured. 

“ Lige, you and Peter bring a tent and stove, 
and all you need for setting up camp,” Doctor Joe 
directed. “ Can you bring one, too, Seth ? ” 

“ Aye,” said Seth, “ I’ll bring un, but we have 
no tent stove. Pop took un to the huntin’.” 


130 TROOP ORE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ Obadiah or Micah may bring a stove. You 
have one, haven’t you? ” Doctor Joe asked. 

"Aye,” said Obadiah, “ I has one. I’ll bring un 
along.” 

"You three fix up an outfit amongst you. 
There’ll be three in a tent,” Doctor Joe explained. 
"Andy can go in with Peter and Lige, and I’ll tent 
with Davy and Jamie.” 

There was little else than the proposed camping 
expedition talked about on the return to The Jug. 
And in the days that followed David, Andy and 
Jamie devoted every spare moment to the study of 
first aid and signalling. Doctor Joe, with no end 
of patience, drilled them so thoroughly in first aid 
that they were soon really expert in applying band- 
ages. He even instructed them in improvising 
splints and reducing fractures. In this secluded 
land, where for three hundred miles up and down 
the coast there was no other surgeon than Doctor 
Joe, it was not unlikely that some day they would 
be called upon to set a leg or an arm. 

Doctor Joe was as ignorant, however, of the art 
of signalling as were the lads, and he must needs 
take it up from the very beginning and study with 
them. It was decided that they should learn both 
the semaphore and general service codes, and Doc- 
tor Joe insisted that neither he nor the lads should 
consider the Second Class test satisfactorily passed 
until they had not only learned the codes but could 
send and receive messages at the rate of speed 


THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 


131 


designated in the Handbook as required for the 
First Class test. 

“ It wouldn’t be fair to the scouts in the big 
cities,” he declared. “ They have to learn a great 
many things that we already know how to do, like 
building fires, using the ax and knife and tracking. 
Those are things we’ve been doing all our lives and 
won’t have to practice. We must make it just as 
hard for ourselves to become Second Class Scouts 
as it is for the city lads. So we’ll make the sig- 
nalling test that much more difficult.” 

“ I’m thinkin’ that’s fine now,” enthused David, 
“ and when we learns un we’ll know that much 
more.” 

“That’s the idea!” said Doctor Joe. “And 
we’ll not only learn the sixteen principal points of 
the compass, but we’ll learn to box the compass to 
the quarter point as navigators do.” 

“ I can box un now,” grinned David. 

“ So can I box un ! ” Andy exclaimed. “ Dad 
told me how, same as he told Davy.” 

“ And I can learn to box un easy,” promised 
Jamie. 

Margaret joined them one fine day in the for- 
est behind the cabin when they took their Second 
Class cooking test, and a jolly day they made of it. 
It was easy enough to roast a spruce grouse on 
the end of a stick. Even Jamie had done that many 
times. But Doctor Joe was called upon to solve 
the problem of cooking potatoes without cooking 


132 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

utensils and he did it so satisfactorily that the lads 
practiced it every day afterward for a week. 

He resorted to a simple and ordinary method. 
He dug a narrow trench about six inches deep. 
Upon this he built a fire, which he permitted to 
burn until there was a good accumulation of ashes. 
Then he pushed the fire back and raked the ashes 
out of the trench. The potatoes were now placed 
in a row at the bottom of the trench and covered 
with a good layer of hot ashes. The fire was now 
drawn back over the ashes that covered the pota- 
toes and permitted to burn briskly. 

At the end of an hour he brushed the fire back 
at one end sufficiently to allow a long slender 
splinter to be pushed down through the ashes and 
through a potato. The splinter did not penetrate 
the potato easily and the fire was drawn in again 
to burn for another quarter of an hour. Then it 
was raked out and the potatoes removed, to find 
that, while the skins were not in the least burned 
or even scorched, the potatoes were done to a turn. 

“ You couldn’t have baked them better in your 
oven, Margaret,” laughed Doctor Joe. 

“ I never could have baked un half as well,” ad- 
mitted Margaret, adding, “ ’Tis a wonderful way 
of cookin’.” 

“ Doctor Joe’s fine cookin’ everything,” de- 
clared Andy. “ I always likes his cookin’ wonder- 
ful well.” 

“ Thank you, Andy. That’s high praise,” 


THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 


133 


acknowledged Doctor Joe, “ but I could learn a 
great deal about cooking from Margaret.” 

“ I just does plain cookin',” Margaret depre- 
cated, but flushed with pleasure at the compli- 
ment. 

On the last day of September, which was a 
Friday, David and Doctor Joe crossed over to the 
Hudson's Bay Post and took Margaret with them 
for a visit with Kate Huddy, the Post servant's 
daughter, where she was to remain while the 
Scouts were enjoying their camp at Hollow Cove. 

David and Doctor Joe returned to The Jug on 
Saturday, and when the other members of the troop 
arrived in a boat on Sunday, had their own tent 
equipment and food packed and ready for the little 
expedition on Monday morning. 

It was a jolly meeting. The evening was cold, 
and when supper was eaten they gathered around 
the big box stove which crackled cheerfully, and 
Doctor Joe announced that as this was the first 
meeting of the troop they must organize and elect 
leaders, just as troops were organized everywhere 
else in the world. 

When he had thoroughly explained the neces- 
sary steps he read to them a brief constitution and 
by-laws which he had previously prepared. These 
he had them adopt in due form, and then asked 
some one to nominate a patrol leader. 

Every one, with one accord, nominated David, 
and he was duly, solemnly and unanimously elected. 


134 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


“ Now,” suggested Doctor Joe, “ we must have 
an assistant patrol leader. Who shall it be ? ” 

“Andy,” said Seth Muggs. “Andy’s been to 
the trails and he knows more about un than any- 
body exceptin’ Davy.” 

“ ’Twouldn’t be fair,” objected Andy. “ Davy’s 
patrol leader. ’Tis but right we put in one of you 
that comes from across the Bay. I’m sayin’ Peter 
Sparks, now.” 

Doctor Joe agreed with Andy, and Peter Sparks 
was declared elected. Then Seth nominated Andy 
for scribe. 

“ Because,” Seth explained, “ Andy’ll be right 
handy to Doctor Joe all the time and Doctor Joe 
can help he to do the writin’, and he needs help.” 

When the election was completed Doctor Joe ex- 
plained the duties of the officers and the necessity 
of obedience to them in the performance of scout 
duties. 

“ Our troop is a team,” said Doctor Joe. “We 
must pull together. We are like a team of dogs 
hauling a komatik. If the dogs all follow the 
leader and pull together the best that ever they can 
they get somewhere. If they don’t follow the 
leader, and one pulls in one direction and another 
pulls in a different direction and some don’t pull at 
all they never get anywhere and aren’t of much 
use. Our troop is going to be the best we can 
make it, by all pulling together and doing the very 
best we know how. 


THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 


135 


“We must always be ready to help other people 
at all times, as we promise to do in our oath. If 
we live up to that we’ll do a great deal of good, 
first and last, up and down the Bay. If some one’s 
life is in danger and we can help them even at the 
risk of our own we must help them. Everybody 
wants to be happy. There’s nothing that will make 
us so happy as to do some fine thing every day 
that will make some one else happy. 

“We must train our brains and our hands so 
that we shall always be prepared to do the right 
thing and do it quickly. We must learn to keep 
our temper and not get angry. Let us take the 
hard knocks that come to us with a smile.” 

The remainder of the evening was spent in play- 
ing some rollicking games that the lads had never 
heard of before, and which Doctor Joe taught 
them. There was the one-legged chicken fight, 
buzz, horse and rider and one or two others, as 
well as hand wrestling, though that they had seen 
the Indians play and had practiced themselves. 
They all declared that they had never in their lives 
had so much fun. 

An early start the following morning brought 
them to Hollow Cove at ten o’clock. Hollow Cove 
was a fine natural harbour. A brook poured down 
through a gulch to empty into the Bay and near 
its mouth was an excellent landing-place. Not far 
from the brook, and a hundred feet back from the 
shore they pitched their tents in the shelter of the 


136 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


spruce forest where the camp would be well pro- 
tected from winds and storms. 

While the others set up the sheet-iron stoves in 
the three tents and broke spruce boughs and laid 
the bough beds, David, Micah and Lige volunteered 
to cut wood. 

“ There’s some fine dry wood just to the east’ard 
and close to shore,” suggested David, as they picked 
up their axes. “ It’s right handy.” 

A dozen yards from the camp David suddenly 
stopped and exclaimed: 

“ What’s that now ? ” 

On a great sloping rock close to the shore but 
hidden by a jutting point from the place where 
they had landed was a recently made cairn of 
bowlders capped by a large flat stone. 

“ Somebody’s been here ! ” said David as they 
hurried forward to examine the cairn. 

“ ’Tis wonderful strange to pile stones that way,” 
said Micah. “ ’Tis new made, too.” 

“ Maybe it’s a cache,” suggested Lige, “ but it’s 
a rare small un. Look and see. ’Tis a strange 
place for a cache ! ” 

David lifted the flat stone from the top and dis- 
covered beneath a small tin can. In the can was a 
folded paper. He removed the paper and unfold- 
ing it discovered a message written in a cramped, 
scrawling hand. 

“ Read un, Davy ! Read un out loud ! You 
reads writin’ good! ” said Lige, and David read: 


THE LETTER IN THE CAIRN 


337 


“ i cum and stayed 2 hour, and wood not stay no 
longer for i hed to go and did not see you comin 
any were. Then i gos to the rock were We Was 
the day We was hunting Wen We come here 
ferst time. Then i done this way. i Pases 20 
Pases up To a Hackmatack Tree, it was north, 
then i Pases 40 Pases west To a round rock, Then 
i Pases 60 Pases south To a wite berch i use 
cumpus. Then i climes a spruce Tree and hangs it 
and it is out of site in the Branches, if You plays 
me Crookid look out, i wont Stand for no Crooked 
work and You know what i will do to anybody 
plays me Crooked. You no Were to put my haf 
of the Swag. So i can get it Wen i go to get it.” 

There was no signature. 

“ That’s a strange un — wonderful strange/’ said 
David. 

“ Stranger’n anything I ever sees,” declared 
Lige. 

“ Whatever is un all about? ” asked Micah. 

" That’s the strangeness of un,” said Lige. 

“ Let’s show un to Doctor Joe,” suggested David. 

But Doctor Joe, when they broke in upon him a 
moment later, was as mystified as they. 

“ It looks,” said he, “ as though something had 
been cached and here are the directions for finding 
the cache. There’s a threat in the letter, too, and 
that looks bad. It’s a mystery, lads, we’ll try to 
search out. It doesn’t look right. Perhaps it’s 
the clue to some crime.” 

“ How can we search un out ? ” asked David 


138 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


excitedly. “ We're not knowin’ the rock, and 
there’s plenty of rocks hereabouts.” 

“ That’s true,” admitted Doctor Joe. “ Go and 
put the paper back as you found it, and we’ll see 
what we can make out of it later.” 

The whole camp was excited and every one fol- 
lowed David back to the cairn when he returned 
to restore the letter to its place in the can. 

“ ’Tis something somebody’s tryin’ to hide,” 
suggested Peter. 

“ There’s no doubtin’ that,” said David. “ I’m 
thinkin’ ’tis not right whatever ’tis.” 

“ We’ll get camp in shape and have our dinner 
and then try to solve the mystery,” said Doctor 
Joe. “ It is a real mystery, for no one would make 
an ordinary cache in this way, and if it was an 
honest matter there would be no threat.” 


XII 


THE HIDDEN CACHE 

W HEN camp was made snug and dinner 
disposed of, Doctor Joe followed the 
boys down to the cairn. A careful ex- 
amination was made of the soil surrounding the 
rock upon which the cairn was built, and in loose 
gravel close to the shore were found the imprints 
of feet. It was evident, however, that rain had 
fallen since the tracks were made, for they were 
so nearly washed away that there could be no 
certainty whether they were made by moccasins or 
nailed boots. 

“ ’Twere a week ago they were here whatever,” 
observed David, rising upon his feet after a close 
scrutiny upon hands and knees. “ I’m thinkin’ 
we’ll see no sign of un now to help us trail un to the 
rock the writin’ tells about.” 

“ The ground was hard froze a week ago just 
as ’tis now,” said Lige. “ They’d be leavin’ no 
tracks on froze ground.” 

“ They makes the tracks that shows here 
whether the ground were froze or not,” observed 
Seth. 

“The gravel were loose and dry so ’tweren’t 
i39 


140 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


froze/’ explained Lige, “ but away from the dry 
gravel ’twere all froze, and they’d make no tracks 
to show. Leastways that’s how I thinks about 
un.” 

“ That’s good logic,” said Doctor Joe. “ I’m 
afraid we’ll have to find the rock without the as- 
sistance of any tracks to guide us. There will 
surely be other signs, however, and we’ll look for 
them while we look for the rock.” 

“ Suppose now we scatters and looks up along 
the brook and along the ridge for the rock the 
pacin’ were done from,” suggested Andy. “ ’Tis 
like to be a different lookin’ rock from most of un 
around here or they wouldn’t have picked un.” 

“And ’tis like to be a big un too,” volunteered 
Micah. “ They’d be pickin’ no little rock for that, 
whatever. I’m thinkin’ ’twill be easy to know un 
if we sees un.” 

“ Yes,” agreed Doctor Joe, “ the rock is probably 
larger or in some other way noticeably different 
from the others. It may be along the brook, or it 
may not. They were hunting. It may be a rock 
where they camped, or where they agreed to meet 
after their hunt, and probably where they boiled 
their kettle.” 

“They weren’t Bay folk, whatever ,” asserted 
David. “ The writin’ ain’t like any of the Bay 
folkses writin’. None of un here could write so 
fine.” 

“ None of the Bay folk would be hidin’ things 


THE HIDDEN CACHE 


141 


that way either,” said Andy. “If ’twere anything 
small enough to hide in a tree they’d been takin’ un 
with un and not leavin’ un behind. If ’twere too 
big to carry, they’d just left un in a cache and come 
back for un when they gets ready and not do any 
writin’ about un.” 

“ I think you are right, Andy,” agreed Doctor 
Joe. “ For the reasons you give and for still other 
reasons I feel very certain strangers to the Bay 
left the cache.” 

“ What were they meanin’ by ‘ swag,’ Doctor 
Joe?” asked Andy. “I never hears that word 
before. ’Tis a wonderful strange word.” 

“ It usually means,” explained Doctor Joe, 
“ something that has been stolen. The use of that 
word is one of the reasons that leads me to con- 
clude that it was not written by any of our people 
of the Bay. I am quite sure none of them knows 
what the word means, and like you I doubt if any 
of them ever heard it. There seems no doubt, 
indeed, that strangers to these parts wrote it, and 
as there are no other strangers in the Bay than the 
lumbermen, we are safe in concluding that the 
cairn was built and the note written by some one 
from the lumber camp at Grampus River.” 

“ ‘ Swag ’ is a wonderful strange soundin’ word, 
now,” said David. “ I never hears un before.” 

“ I’m thinkin’ I knows what ’tis they hid now ! ” 
exclaimed Andy suddenly. “ ’Tis Lem Horn's 
silver! ’Tis the men hid un that shot Lem and 


142 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


stole the silver! ’Tweren’t Indian Jake shot Lem 
at all! ’Twere men from the lumber camp! 
What they calls ‘ swag ’ is Lem's silver ! ” 

“ That’s what ’tis, now! ’Tis sure Lem Horn’s 
silver ! ” David exploded excitedly. “ I never 
would have thought of un bein’ that! Andy’s 
wonderful spry thinkin’ things out, and he’s mostly 
always right, too ! ” 

“And Indian Jake never stole un! He never 
stole uni ” Jamie burst out joyfully. “I were 
knowin’ all the time he wouldn’t steal un! Indian 
Jake wouldn’t go shootin’ folk and stealin’ from 
un! ” 

“ It may be,” said Doctor Joe. “At any rate it 
seems extremely probable the 4 swag ’ as they call 
it is stolen property that has been hidden. That 
word and the threat together with the other cir- 
cumstances make it quite certain, indeed, that 
■whatever it is they refer to was stolen. That’s 
a safe conclusion to begin with. We have decided 
that we may be quite sure, also, that the men that 
hid the cache so carefully were none of our own 
Bay people, but men from the lumber camp. We 
have heard of nothing else than Lem Horn’s silver 
fox having been stolen in the Bay. We have 
some ground, therefore, to suppose that the 
4 swag ’ is Lem Horn’s silver fox. It will be a 
fine piece of work to search out the cache, and if 
it proves to contain Lem’s silver fox, recover it for 
him. We will be doing a good turn to Lem and 


THE HIDDEN CACHE 


143 


at the same time will lift suspicion from Indian 
Jake. If we find the cache and there is nothing 
in it that should not be there, we will not interfere 
with it. Now how shall we go about it to trace 
it? Let’s hear what you chaps think is the best 
plan.” 

“ We’ll separate and look for the rock they tells 
about,” suggested David. “ There’s like to be 
some signs so we’ll know un when we sees un. If 
we finds the rock ’twill not be hard to pace off 
the way they says in the paper.” 

“And we’ll be lookin’ out for other signs,” 
added Peter. “ ’Tis likely they’ve been cuttin’ 
wood or breakin’ twigs or makin’ a fire.” 

“ The brook ain’t froze, and I’m thinkin’ now 
they been walkin’ there and leavin’ tracks, if they 
were goin’ for water, and ’tis likely they were get- 
tin’ water to boil the kettle,” reasoned Seth. 

“ Suppose,” suggested Doctor Joe, “two of you 
follow up the brook, one on either side, and the rest 
of us will spread out on each side of the two fol- 
lowing the brook, and look for the rock and other 
signs that will guide us.” 

“We better make a writin’ for each of us just 
like the writin’ in the can with what it says about 
how to find the cache if we finds the rock,” sug- 
gested Andy. “ I for one’ll never be rememberin’ 
all of un without a writin’ to look at whatever.” 

“ That’s true, Andy,” agreed Doctor Joe, “ and 
none of us would.” 


144 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“Andy always thinks of things like that!” ex- 
claimed David admiringly. 

“ Get the paper from the can and bring it up 
to camp,” directed Doctor Joe. “ We’ll make sev- 
eral copies of the directions. I have paper and 
pencil there in the tent.” 

David lifted the flat stone from the top of the 
cairn, and removing the paper he and the others 
followed Doctor Joe to his tent, where Doctor Joe 
made nine copies of the explicit directions, one for 
himself and one for each of the lads. 

“ You had better return this now to the can,” 
said Doctor Joe, handing the paper back to David, 
“ for if it should prove after all that we have been 
mistaken, and that the cache does not contain Lem’s 
silver fox or other stolen property, it would be 
wrong, and we would not wish, to interfere with 
the man for whom this paper was left here finding 
the cache.” 

“ ’Twould be fair wicked to do that,” agreed 
David. “ I’ll put un back.” 

When the paper had again been returned to its 
hiding-place Doctor Joe detailed the boys to their 
different positions. David and Peter were to fol- 
low the brook, David on the left side and Peter 
on the right side as they ascended. Seth Muggs, 
Obadiah Button, Andy and Jamie were to spread 
out at intervals on the left from David, and Lige 
Sparks, Micah Dunk and Doctor Joe on the right 
side of the brook from Peter. All were to ascend 


THE HIDDEN CACHE 


145 


through the woods at the same time, keeping a 
sharp lookout to right and to left for any unusual 
rock or other possible signs that might lead to a 
clue. 

“ Now we had better keep close enough together 
to keep in sight the man nearest us on the side to- 
ward the brook,” directed Doctor Joe. “ If we 
spread farther apart than that we will be too far 
apart to see any rock that may be between us.” 

“Aye, and we’ll keep lookin’ both ways,” said 
Andy. “ That way we can’t miss un.” 

“ It’s now,” Doctor Joe consulted his watch, 
“ one-thirty o’clock. It’s cloudy and it will be 
dark by half-past four. I’ll call to Micah at half- 
past three and he will pass the word along to the 
next man and he to the next and so on until all 
have been notified. Then we will immediately 
come together and return to camp, that is, of 
course, if we have not already found the cache. If 
before that time any one finds what he thinks may 
be the rock he will pass the word to his neighbour, 
and we’ll close in and make our search together. 
If it begins to snow, and the snow is too thick for 
us to see our next neighbour, we’ll close in, for in 
that case we would miss the rock anyway. Do 
you all understand ? ” 

Every one understood, as the chorus of “ Yes, 
sir,” testified. 

“Jamie,” said Doctor Joe, “ you’re the youngest 
one, and you haven’t had much experience tramp- 


146 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


in g through the woods. If you get tired, or find it 
hard, just come over to the brook and follow it 
down to camp. If you get there ahead of us you 
might start a fire in our tent stove and put the 
kettle over.” 

“ I’ve got plenty o’ grit, sir,” Jamie boasted. “ I 
can stand un.” 

“ I think you can,” agreed Doctor Joe, “ but 
your legs are short. If you get tired don’t keep 
going. Perhaps you had better take the outside 
place, and if you do get tired and fall out it won’t 
break the line.” 

Full of eagerness and excitement, the boys took 
their positions. On the left bank of the brook 
was David, next him to the left Obadiah Button, 
then Andy, beyond him Seth Muggs, and finally 
Jamie. This placed Jamie on the extreme left 
flank, in accordance with Doctor Joe’s suggestion, 
and the farthest from David and the brook. 

On the right bank of the brook were Peter 
Sparks, Doctor Joe, Lige Sparks and Micah Dunk 
in the order named, with Micah on the extreme 
right flank. 

It was a great and thrilling adventure for all 
the boys, but particularly for Jamie. There was a 
mystery to be solved, and in the attempt to solve 
it there was not merely curiosity but a worthy 
object in view. If the cache proved to contain 
Lem Horn’s silver fox skin Lem and his whole 
family would be made happy. 


THE HIDDEN CACHE 


147 


And Jamie, in his unwavering loyalty, was 
anxious to lift from Indian Jake all suspicion of 
the crime. At present every one in the Bay be- 
lieved Indian Jake had committed the crime, save 
only the Angus boys. Even Doctor Joe was not 
satisfied of his innocence, and, indeed, everything 
pointed to Indian Jake’s guilt. Doctor Joe be- 
lieved that the Angus boys were prejudiced in their 
loyalty to Indian Jake because of the fact that he 
had done them kindnesses. Jamie was sure that 
if they found this cache there would be proof that 
he and David and Andy were right and every- 
body else wrong. Not only did this feature of the 
adventure appeal to Jamie, but also the fact that 
he was for the first time in his life trailing in the 
wilderness and taking part in an undertaking that 
seemed to him one of vast importance. 

Jamie had never slept in a tent. His only ac- 
quaintance with the great wilderness had been con- 
fined to the woods surrounding The Jug, and al- 
ways when in company with David or Andy or 
his father or Doctor Joe. Now he was determined 
to do as well as any of them, and, no matter how 
tired he became, to stick to the trail until Doctor 
Joe gave the signal to return to camp. 

As they ascended the slope Jamie kept a sharp 
lookout to right and left. Now and again Seth 
Muggs on his right was hidden by a clump of thick 
spruce trees or would disappear behind a wooded 
rise, presently to appear again through the trees. 


148 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


Jamie was happy. He was keeping pace with 
the others without the least difficulty. Doctor 
Joe had hinted that his short legs might not permit 
him to do this. He would prove that he was as 
able as Seth Muggs or any of them ! 

Nothing happened for nearly an hour, and Jamie 
was beginning to think that the search was to end 
in disappointment, when suddenly his heart gave a 
leap of joy. Far to the left and just visible 
through the trees rose the outlines of a great gray 
rock. 

“ That’s the rock! ” exclaimed Jamie. “ That’s 
sure he! I’ll look at un for signs, and then if 
there’s any signs to be seen about un I’ll call 
Seth!” 

Jamie ran through the trees and brush to the 
rock, which proved, indeed, to be a landmark. It 
stood alone, and was twice as high as Jamie’s head. 

Here he was treated to another thrill. On the 
west side of the rock was the charred wood of 
a recent camp fire. A tent had been pitched near 
at hand as was evidenced by the still unwithered 
boughs that had formed a bed, and discarded tent 
pegs, and there were many ax cuttings. 

“ ’Twere white men and not Injuns that camped 
here,” reasoned Jamie. “All the Injun fires I ever 
heard tell about were made smaller than this un. 
And these folk were pilin’ up stones on the side. 
No Injuns or Bay folk does that, whatzvt r! ” 

Jamie continued to investigate. 


THE HIDDEN CACHE 


149 


“ ’Twere not Bay folk did the ax cuttin* either/* 
he decided. “All the Bay folk and Injuns uses 
small axes when they travels, and this cuttin* were 
done with big uns ! ” 

Looking about the rock he found other evi- 
dences that the campers had been strangers to the 
country. There was a piece of a Halifax news- 
paper, an empty bottle and a small tin can con- 
taining matches. The box of matches he put into 
his pocket. They had been lost or overlooked, and 
no hunter of the Bay or Indian would ever have 
been guilty of such carelessness. Of this Jamie 
had no question. 

“ *Tis sure the rock the writin* tells about/* he 
commented. 

Jamie looked a little farther, and then suddenly 
realizing that he should not wait too long before 
calling, shouted lustily : 

“ Seth, I finds un ! Seth ! Seth ! I finds the 
rock ! ** 

He waited a moment for Seth*s answering call, 
but there was no response. A much longer time 
had elapsed during Jamie*s examination of the rock 
and the surroundings than he realized, and in the 
meantime Seth and the others had passed on, and 
Seth was now in a deeply wooded gully where 
Jamie*s shouts failed to reach him. 

“ Seth ! Seth ! I finds un ! I finds the place ! ” 
he shouted again, but still there was no response 
from Seth. 


150 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ I’m thinkin , now Seth has gone too far to 
hear,” said Jamie to himself. “ ’Twould be fine 
to find Lem’s silver all alone and take un back to 
camp. I’ll just do what the writin’ says. I’ll pace 
up the places. I can do un all by myself, and 
’twill be a fine surprise to un all to take the silver 
back to camp.” 

Jamie had no doubt that the mysterious cache 
contained the stolen fox pelt. He had so visualized 
it and accepted it as a fact. No thought of dis- 
appointment in this, or of danger to himself 
entered his head. His whole mind was centered 
upon one point. He would be the hero of the Bay 
if, quite alone, he succeeded in recovering Lem’s 
property and at the same time in clearing Indian 
Jake of suspicion. 

Without further delay he drew from his pocket 
the carefully folded copy of directions that Doctor 
Joe had given him and sat down to study it. 


XIII 


SURPRISED AND CAPTURED 

“/^WENTY paces to a hackmatack tree, 
north,” read Jamie. He drew from his 
pocket the little compass Doctor Joe had 
given him, and took the direction. 

“ That’s the way she goes, the way the needle 
points,” he said to himself. "Til pace un off. 
North is the way she goes first.” 

But an obstacle presented itself. The northern 
face of the rock was irregular, and from end to 
end fully thirty feet in length. From what point 
of the rock was the northerly line to begin? 
Where should he begin to pace? Finally he se- 
lected a middle point as the most probable. 

“ ’Twill be from here,” he decided. “ They’d 
never be startin’ the line from anywheres but the 
middle.” 

Holding the compass in his hand that he might 
make no mistake, and trembling with the excite- 
ment of one about to make a great discovery, he 
paced to the northward, stretching his short legs 
to the longest possible stride, until he counted 
twenty paces. It brought him not to a hackmatack 
* 5 * 


152 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABEADOE 


tree, but to the middle of several spruce trees. He 
returned to the rock and tried again. This time 
he was led to a tangle of brush to the left of the 
spruce trees into which his former effort had taken 
him. He was vastly puzzled. 

“ ’Tis something I does wrong,” he mused. 
“ Doctor Joe were sayin’ the compass points right, 
and she is right. ’Tis wonderful strange though.” 

He experimented again and discovered that if 
he did not hold the compass perfectly level the 
needle did not swing properly. In his excitement 
he had doubtless tipped the compass, and with the 
needle thus bound he had been led astray. 

He climbed to the top of the rock and placing 
his compass in a level position permitted the needle 
to swing to a stationary position. He extracted a 
match from the tin box in his pocket and laid it 
upon the compass dial exactly parallel with the 
needle. Lying on his face he squinted his eye 
along the match to a distant tree. Rising he ob- 
served the tree that he might make no mistake, 
and returning to the face of the rock strode twenty 
of his best paces in the direction of the tree. Again 
he was disappointed. There was no hackmatack 
tree at the end of his line. 

“ Maybe he was a big man that does the pacin’ 
and takes longer paces,” he said to himself. “ I’ll 
go a bit farther.” 

He looked directly ahead, but saw no hackmatack 
within a reasonable extension of his twenty paces to 


SURPRISED AND CAPTURED 


153 


account for the longer strides the original pacer 
may have taken. Much discouraged, he was about 
to return again to the rock when suddenly his eye 
fell upon a small and scarcely noticeable hack- 
matack six paces to the right of his north line and 
a little beyond him. 

“ That must be he, now ! ” he exclaimed. “ ’Tis 
the only hackmatack I sees hereabouts. ’Tis sure 
he! I’ll pace un back to the rock! If the tree’s 
nuth’ard from the rock, the rock’ll be south’ard 
from the tree. I’ll try pacin’ that way.” 

With his compass, Jamie sighted from the tree 
to the rock, and to his satisfaction the rock, lying 
due south, fell within his line of sight, but at the 
extreme easterly end of its northerly face instead 
of at the center, the point from which he had run 
his original line. He now paced the distance which 
proved to be a little farther than twenty of Jamie’s 
longest strides, which he accounted for again by 
reasoning that a man could take longer steps than 
he could stretch with his short legs. 

Then for the first time Jamie observed two 
stones, one on top of the other, at the foot of the 
rock and at the very place to which his compass 
had directed him. He lifted the stones and an 
examination proved that they had not long since 
been placed in the position in which he found 
them. Both had marks of earth upon them on the 
lower side, but the stone which was below rested 
upon the carpet of caribou moss which covered the 


154 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


ground and prevented it from coming in contact 
with the earth. It could not, therefore, have been 
stained with soil in the place where Jamie now 
found it. 

“ They was put there as a pilot mark ! They 
shows the true mark of the place to pace from, ,, he 
soliloquized, replacing them in the position in 
which he had found them. “ I’ll take un as a pilot, 
whatever, and see how she comes out on the next 
tack.” 

He returned to the little hackmatack tree and 
again consulted the paper. 

“ Forty paces west to a round rock,” he read, 
observing, “ That won’t be so hard now as findin’ 
the hackmatack tree. ’Twill be easier to see, what- 
ever.” 

Methodically he gathered some stones and 
erected a small pedestal upon which to rest his 
compass while he ran his westerly line. Loose 
stones of proper size were hard to find. The 
smaller ones were frozen fast to the ground, and 
the larger ones were too heavy for him to move. 
But presently he collected a sufficient number of 
small stones to form a pedestal a foot and a half 
high. 

Upon the top of this he levelled his compass, and 
turned it until the needle, swinging freely, rested 
upon the north point on the dial. Then, as before, 
he placed a match upon the face of the compass 
to form a line from the “ E ” to the “ W ” on the 


SUBPRISED AND CAPTURED 


155 


dial. Crouching down upon the ground Jamie 
sighted, as before, to a distant tree, but as he did so 
he became suddenly aware that the light was fad- 
ing. He had been much longer than he had real- 
ized, consuming a great deal of time in examining 
the signs around the big rock and in taking his dis- 
tances from the rock. 

“ This line is sure right the first time, ,, he said. 
“ 'Twill not take me much longer, and I finds the 
round rock now. If I finds un I’ll be sure I'm 
goin’ the right way, and I’ll be right handy to the 
cache.” 

Thirty-nine of Jamie’s paces brought him to the 
tree upon which he had taken sight, and looking a 
little way beyond he saw, to his great joy, a round 
rock. 

Jamie was trembling with excitement as he ran 
eagerly to the rock. This was the second direction 
laid down upon the paper! There could be no 
doubt that he was right ! Everything answered the 
description ! He would surely find the cache now ! 
What a surprise it would be to Doctor Joe and the 
boys if he came walking into camp triumphantly 
bearing Lem Horn’s silver fox skin. 

“ Sixty paces south,” he next read from his di- 
rections. 

He placed his compass upon the top of the round 
rock, which rose perhaps three feet above the 
ground, and repeated his former method, again 
sighting to a convenient tree. Twilight was per- 


156 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


ceptibly thickening. At this season darkness falls 
early in Labrador, and now, because of a heavily 
clouded sky, it was following twilight quickly. 

“ I’ll keep at un till I finds the cache. I’ll find 
un before I goes back to camp zvhatever,” he de- 
termined. “ ’Twill be easy enough gettin’ to camp 
even if ’tis dark before I gets there. The brook’s 
handy by, and I’ll just go to un and follow un 
down to camp. I hope they’ll not be worryin’ 
about me, but if they does ’twill not be for long. 
I’ll soon be there now.” 

The distance from the round rock to the tree 
upon which he had sighted proved to be but thirty 
of his short paces. Here he was compelled to pile 
stones again upon which to build a resting place for 
his compass before taking another sight. Small 
stones such as he could lift were not easily found, 
and when at length he was prepared to take the 
sight the gloom had grown so thick that he had 
difficulty in locating a tree that he judged was 
sufficiently far away to cover the remaining dis- 
tance. Thirty more paces, however, brought him 
to the tree, and to his unbounded joy a lone white 
birch stood just beyond. 

Within three paces of the birch the mysterious 
cache was hidden. Here, however, the directions 
failed to be sufficiently explicit. Either through 
oversight or purposely the bearings from the birch 
were omitted. 

Jamie paced first to one tree and then to an- 


SURPRISED AND CAPTURED 


157 


other; any of several trees might be the correct 
one. They were all thickly branched spruce trees 
capable of concealing the coveted cache. Jamie 
was puzzled, and every moment it was growing 
darker. He looked up into the branches of one 
and then another, hoping to see a bag suspended 
from a limb, but if a bag were there it blended so 
completely with the foliage that even its outlines 
were not revealed. 

“ PH have to climb un all,” said Jamie finally, 
“ and PH have to be spry about un too or Twill be 
fair dark before I gets to climb the last of un.” 

For his first effort he chose a tree three paces 
beyond the birch and on a line with the rock. He 
had no difficulty in shinning up the trunk until he 
reached a lower limb, and then he quite easily drew 
himself up. 

Climbing through the thick screen of branches he 
looked eagerly for the coveted hidden mystery, not 
stopping until he was well into the tree top and 
had made quite certain that no cache was hidden 
there. Then, as he looked up toward the sky, he 
felt a snowflake on his face. 

“ Snowin’ ! ” he exclaimed. “ I’ll have to be 
hurry in’ now. And it snows hard, Doctor Joe 
sure will be gettin’ worried about me.” 

At that moment Jamie heard the breaking of a 
twig. He paused and listened. Presently he 
heard footsteps, and a moment later a man’s voice. 
Through the gathering darkness appeared the 


158 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


figures of two men, and even at that distance 
Jamie knew they were not Bay folk. They 
travelled less silently, and the tread of heavy boots 
is quite unlike that of moccasined feet. 

Jamie crouched close to the tree trunk. He 
scarcely breathed. The approaching figures came 
directly toward the white birch. 

“ It’s lucky we saw them fellers first, ” said a 
gruff voice. “ They’d sure suspicioned somethin’ 
if they’d got a glim on us. They never seen us 
cornin’ over, and they’ll never find our boat where 
we hid her.” 

“If they found that there writin’ you went and 
left in the tin can you were tellin’ about, they’ve 
liker’n not follered the directions you give and 
found the swag,” growled the other. “ That won’t 
be very lucky for us.” 

“ They’d never find her,” assured the first 
speaker. “ They’d have to find the rock first, and 
she’s a good two mile from shore. They’d never 
find her in a dog’s age. Here we be. Here’s the 
white birch.” 

“ Well, where’s the tree you went and hid the 
stuff in?” 

“ Here she is.” The man indicated a tree next 
to that in which Jamie was perched. “ Here, take 
my leg and gimme a boost. I’ll go up and get it.” 

Jamie scarcely dared breathe. He could see one 
of the men make a stirrup of his hands, and the 
other man step into it and swing into the tree. Up 


SURPRISED AND CAPTURED 


159 


he climbed to a point directly opposite Jamie, and 
so near Jamie could hear him breathe. 

“ Got her, Bill ? ” asked the man below. 

“You bet I got her! She's here all right, just 
like I said she'd be,'' answered the man in the tree. 

Jamie's heart sank. After all his hopes and 
efforts he became suddenly aware that he could not 
return to camp triumphantly bearing Lem Horn's 
silver fox pelt as he had pictured himself doing. 
Lem would never get the pelt again. Every one in 
the Bay would go on forever believing that Indian 
Jake had shot Lem and stolen the pelt. And he 
had been so near setting all this right! It never 
entered his head that the cache could contain any- 
thing else than the pelt. Because he wished Indian 
Jake to be innocent of the crime, he had come to 
believe that he was innocent, even though Indian 
Jake himself had not denied having the stolen 
property in his possession, and everybody save 
only himself and David and Andy believed Indian 
Jake had it. 

“ Here she be safe and sound and as good as 
ever," said the man as he dropped from the lower 
limb of the tree to the ground. “ Let’s open her 
up and have a drink, Hank." 

“ I'll go you, Bill. My throat feels as long as a 
camel's and as dry as a snake's back." 

Jamie could see the man called Bill stooping over 
the small bag to untie it, and presently draw forth 
a bottle. 


160 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ Here she be, and the other three bottles too,” 
said Bill. “ You open her up, Hank, while I see 
if the roll is there and the other stuff.” 

Bill ran his arm in the bag. 

“ Yes, it’s all right,” he assured. “ I guess the 
Captain didn’t miss the money before the ship 
sailed, and there ain’t any way of his gettin’ word 
in to the boss about it now before next spring. 
We’re safe enough to take it back and make our 
divvy. There won’t be any search made for it 
now.” 

“ Naw, we’re safe enough now,” Hank tipped 
the bottle to his lips, and handed it to Bill. “ The 
boss ain’t missed his liker neither, and there won’t 
be any to miss pretty soon the way you’re pullin’ 
at it.” 

“ I don’t know’s I took any more’n you did,” 
said Bill petulantly, corking the bottle and return- 
ing it to the bag. “ It was a good move to play 
safe anyhow and hide the swag until we made sure 
the boss wouldn’t go searching through our stuff 
for it. I don’t know’s he’d suspicion us any more’n 
the rest of the crew, but he’d searched everybody’s 
stuff if the Captain had give him a tip.” 

“ You bet he would ! ” agreed Hank. “We just 
played in luck right through. They won’t blame 
us for that other job, will they? They ain’t likely 
to go makin’ a search for that, be they ? ” 

“Naw!” said Bill. “That other feller, what- 
ever his name is, has got ’em on his trail for that. 


SURPRISED AND CAPTURED 161 

We ain’t in it. They’ll never suspicion us for that. 
We made a slick job of that.” 

“ Well, let’s beat it back,” said Hank. “ It’s 
snowin’ and it’s goin’ to snow hard. The sooner 
we gets back to camp the better we’ll be off.” 

Bill swung the bag over his shoulder, when sud- 
denly he stopped and exclaimed : 

“ What’s that?” 

Jimmy had sneezed, and again he sneezed. 

“ Some sneak in that there tree ! ” and Bill with 
an oath dropped his bag and seized his rifle, which 
he had leaned against the tree in which Jimmy was 
perched. “ I’ll put a bullet up there ! That’ll 
settle that feller, whoever he is ! ” 


XIV 


THE TWO DESPERADOS 

ON’T shoot, sir! It’s just me!” Jamie 
piped in terror from the tree. 



“ It's only a kid ! ” Bill swore an 
oath of disgust and lowered his rifle. “ You git 
down out’n that tree! Git down quicker’n light- 
enin’, too! ” 

“I’m cornin’, sir!” came Jamie’s frightened 
voice from the tree top. 

Jamie lost no time in descending from his perch, 
and in a moment stood trembling before his cap- 
tors. It was quite dark now and snowing hard, 
and to the frightened little lad the two big lumber- 
men loomed up like giants. 

“ What you doin’ here ? ” demanded Bill with 
an oath as he seized Jamie’s arm with a grip that 
made the lad wince. 

“ I were — I were huntin’ for the cache,” con- 
fessed Jamie. 

“ Goin’ to steal our cache, was ye? Well, we’ll 
teach you to leave other folkses things be ! ” The 
man gave Jamie a savage shake. “ Tryin’ to steal 
our cache, eh? Who set you on to it? That’s 
what I want to know ! Who set you on to steal in’ 
it now ? ” 

“I weren’t goin’ to steal un, sir,” chattered 


THE TWO DESPERADOS 163 

Jamie, horrified at the implication that he was a 
thief. 

“ What were you huntin’ the cache for then ? 
Don’t lie, you little rat, or I’ll twist your neck off ! ” 

The fellow seemed quite capable of executing the 
threat literally, as he again shook Jamie savagely. 

“ I — ain’t — lyin’ — about — un, sir! ” plead Jamie 
between the shakes. “ I were — just — go in’ — to — 
look — at un, and — if — ’t weren’t — Lem Horn’s sil- 
ver fox — I weren’t — goin’ to touch un! ” 

“ Well, ’tain’t Lem Horn’s silver fox. It’s 
things of our’n ! Do you hear that ? ’Tain’t Lem 
Horn’s silver, it’s our’n what’s in that there bag! 
You leave our things be! Do you hear what I’m 
sayin’ ! You and your gang keep away from our 
cache, and don’t go foolin’ with anything you don’t 
know anything about ! Do you hear ? ” The man 
gave Jamie another shake. 

“I — I didn’t know! We — we just suspicioned 
’twere Lem’s silver, and I were wantin’ to take un 
back to he,” explained Jamie. 

“ You heard what I said? ’Tain’t Lem Horn’s 
silver! You hear that, don’t you? ” 

“Aye, sir, I saw what you was takin’ out of the 
bag, and ’tweren’t Lem Horn’s silver. ’Twere 
something to drink out of a bottle. I sees you 
drinkin’ it.” 

“ Let the kid go, Bill,” laughed Hank, who until 
now had kept silent. 

“We were all thinkin’ ’twere Lem’s silver. I’ll 


164 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


tell un ’twere not the silver but somethin* else that 
you takes from the Captain that you were hidin’ 
in the cache,” said Jamie hopefully. 

“You goin’ to tell that! You heard what we 
said, and you goin’ to blab it ? ” the man roared 
in a rage. 

“Aye, sir, I’ll just tell the others so’s they’ll not 
be thinkin’ ’tis Lem’s silver,” said Jamie inno- 
cently. 

“ The others ? Who’s ‘ the others ’ ? ” de- 
manded Bill. 

“Doctor Joe and the other scouts,” Jamie ex- 
plained. 

“ 4 Doctor Joe and the other scouts/ ” quoted the 
big lumberman. “Who’s this here Doctor Joe? 
And who’s the other scouts ? ” 

“He’s Doctor Joe! Everybody knows Doctor 
Joe!” explained Jamie, quite astonished that any 
one should ask who Doctor Joe might be. “ The 
scouts be the other lads of the Bay, sir.” 

“ Well, this here Doctor Joe, whoever he is, and 
these here other scouts, whoever they be, better 
keep out’n our business and mind their own,” 
roared the man. “ I suppose they’re this here 
bunch what’s campin’ down by the brook and been 
runnin’ all over the country to-day ? ” 

“Aye, sir, we’re all campin’ down handy to the 
brook, and we’ve all been lookin’ for the cache, but 
I’m the only one that finds the rock,” admitted 
Jamie. 


THE TWO DESPERADOS 


165 


“You ain’t camped down there now!” The 
man swore a mighty and strange oath that made 
Jamie tremble. “ You was camped there, but now 
you ain’t! You’re goin’ with us, you be! Hear 
that? ” 

“Aw, let the kid go ! ” broke in Hank, im- 
patiently. “We better be gettin’ a jog on us too. 
Leave the kid be, and come on. He’s just a kid 
and he can’t kick up any trouble. Leave him be, 
and let’s get out of here.” 

“ Not me ! ” The man gave Jamie’s arm a pain- 
ful twist. “ I ain’t goin’ to leave this here kid to 
go back and blab to that there Doctor Joe and the 
hull country. He heard our talk, and if it gets to 
the boss you know what that means. I ain’t takin’ 
any chances on him, and I’m half of this.” 

“ We’ll be gettin’ in bigger trouble if we takes 
him along. We’ll have the hull country huntin’ 
us,” Hank protested. 

“You heard me! I ain’t goin’ to take chances 
on his blabbin’! He goes along, and I’ll fix him 
so’s he won’t blab and nobody’ll get our trail if they 
do hunt us. The snow’ll hide it,” insisted Bill. 

“ Well, let’s get a move on then,” said Hank. 
“ The wind’s risin’ and it’s goin’ to kick up a sea. 
I don’t want to be caught out on the Bay again in 
a sea like we had that other time. The snow’s 
goin’ to be thick, too, and we’ll lose our bearings.” 

“ Go on, then. I’ll foller with the kid,” said 
Bill, still holding Jamie’s aching arm. 


166 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ Better let the kid go,” said Hank, swinging a 
rifle over his left shoulder and with an ax in his 
right hand striding away through the darkness and 
thickly falling snow. 

“Come along you ! ” and Jamie’s captor, gripping 
Jamie’s arm in one hand and with a rifle in the 
other, followed in the trail of the man Hank drag- 
ging Jamie almost too fast for his legs to carry 
him. 

On and on they went through the darkness. 
Now and again Jamie fell over stumps or other 
obstructions, and each time the man, with a curse, 
jerked him to his feet. 

Snow was falling heavily and the wind was 
rising. Once they crossed a frozen marsh where 
the snow swirled around them in clouds. Then 
they were again among the forest trees, forging 
ahead in silence save for an occasional curse by the 
man who held Jamie in his merciless and relentless 

grip- 


XV 


MISSING! 

S ETH MUGGS, intent upon keeping pace 
with Andy on his right, and not permitting 
him to get out of sight, quite neglected to be 
equally cautious as to Jamie on his left. In this 
Seth was in no wise neglectful. The responsi- 
bility in each case, in order to keep the line from 
breaking, was to keep the neighbour nearer the 
brook in view. In this Jamie alone had failed. 

Jamie had, indeed, been out of line for a con- 
siderable time before Seth became aware of the 
fact. Even then he felt no concern. Doctor Joe 
had instructed Jamie to return to camp if he be- 
came weary, and when he was missed had no doubt 
he had taken advantage of the suggestion. 

Nevertheless, when Doctor Joe passed the word 
along the line to reassemble, Seth gave several 
lusty shouts for Jamie. When, after a reasonable 
time, he received no reply, he was satisfied Jamie 
was snug in camp with the kettle boiling for tea, 
and he turned down to join the others at the 
brook. 

“ It's a little later than I thought,” said Doctor 
167 


168 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


Joe as they came together, “ but we’ll have plenty 
of time to reach camp before dark. Now let’s 
count noses.” 

“Where’s Jamie?” asked David. “We’re all 
here but Jamie.” 

“ I’m thinkin’ he gets tired and goes back to 
camp like Doctor Joe were sayin’ for he to do,” 
suggested Seth. “ I missed he a while back.” 

“ How long has it been since you saw him last, 
Seth? ” asked Doctor Joe. 

“ I’m not rightly knowin’, but a half hour what - 
ever,” said Seth, “ and I’m thinkin’ ’twere a bit 
longer.” 

“ He has probably gone back to camp then,” 
agreed Doctor Joe. “ It was a pretty hard tramp 
for such a little fellow. It is quite natural that 
he did not like to admit to you that he could not 
keep up with us, and he just slipped quietly away 
and returned to camp and said nothing about it. 
He couldn’t well get lost with the brook so near 
to guide him.” 

“Jamie’d never be gettin’ lost whatever,” as- 
serted Andy. “ He’s wonderful good at findin* 
his way about.” 

“ ’Tis goin’ to snow, and ’twill be dark early,” 
suggested David, as the little party turned down 
the brook to retrace their steps to camp. “ There’s 
a bend in the brook here ; let’s cut across un and 
save time. If she sets in to snow to-night ’tis like 
to keep un up all day to-morrow, and we’d better 


MISSING ! 


169 


get back as quick as we can to cut plenty of wood 
and have un on hand.” 

“Very well,” agreed Doctor Joe. “You go 
ahead and guide us, David.” 

“ ’Twill be fine and cozy just bidin’ in camp and 
study in’ up the things in the book,” said Obadiah 
as they followed David in a short cut toward camp. 
“ We’ll be havin’ a fine time even if it does snow 
too hard to go about.” 

“ Yes,” agreed Doctor Joe, “ we can do that and 
learn a great many things about scouting.” 

Suddenly David held up his hand for silence, and 
stooping peered through the trees ahead. The 
others followed his gaze, and there, not above fifty 
yards away and looking curiously at them, stood 
a caribou. 

Only David and Doctor Joe had brought rifles. 
Almost instantly David’s rifle rang out, and the 
caribou turned and disappeared. 

“ I’m sure I hit he ! ” exclaimed David running 
in the direction the caribou had taken. “ I 
couldn’t miss he so close, and a fair shot ! ” 

“ You hit he ! ” exclaimed Andy who had dashed 
ahead. “ You hit he, Davy! Here’s the mark of 
blood!” 

A trail of blood left no doubt that the caribou 
had been hard hit, but it was followed for nearly 
a mile before they came upon the prostrate ani- 
mal. 

“ Now we’ll have plenty of fresh deer’s meat ! ” 


170 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


burst out Obadiah enthusiastically. “ We’ll have 
meat for supper, and I’m wonderful hungry for 
un!” 

“ Yes,” agreed Doctor Joe, “ we had better dress 
it at once. There are enough of us to carry all the 
meat back with us to camp, and that will save mak- 
ing a return trip.” 

“ ’Twill be a fine surprise for Jamie when we 
comes back with deer’s meat,” said Andy enthu- 
siastically. 

“ ’Twill make us a bit late and he’ll be thinkin’ 
we finds the cache,” suggested David. “ I hopes 
he won’t be cornin’ up the brook again to look for 
us.” 

“ I hardly think he’ll do that,” said Doctor Joe, 
“ but to be sure he does not some of you had 
better go to the brook and leave a sign to tell him 
which way we’ve gone. David and I will skin 
and dress the caribou.” 

“ Come along, Seth,” Andy volunteered. “ We’ll 
be goin’ over to make the sign.” 

“ Come back here as soon as you’ve done it,” 
directed Doctor Joe. “ We’ll need your help in 
carrying the meat to camp.” 

“Aye, sir, we’ll be cornin’ right back,” agreed 
Andy as he and Seth hurried away. 

Close to the brook, in a place where it could not 
fail to be seen, the lads set a pole at an angle of 
forty-five degrees, pointing in the direction in 
which the caribou had been killed. Against the 


MISSING ! 


171 


pole and about a third of the distance from its 
lower end an upright stick was placed. This was 
an Indian sign familiar to all the hunters and wil- 
derness folk, indicating that the party had gone in 
the direction in which the pole sloped, the upright 
stick a little way from the butt further indicating 
that the distance was not far. 

“JamieT know what that means, and if he wear- 
ies of bidin' alone in camp and comes to find us 
he'll not be missin’ us now whatever," said Andy 
with satisfaction, as he and Seth turned back. 

“ I’m goin’ to blaze the trail over, and he won’t 
be like to miss un then," suggested Seth taking the 
ax. 

When Andy and Seth rejoined the others Doc- 
tor Joe and David were nearly finished skinning the 
caribou, and in due time they had it ready to cut 
up. The head was severed with as little of the 
neck meat as possible that there might be no un- 
necessary waste, for they could not carry the head 
with them. Then the tongue was removed, for 
this was considered a tidbit. 

The question of how to carry the meat to camp 
was finally settled by making two litters with poles. 
The carcass was now cut into two nearly equal 
parts, one of which was placed on each litter. 
Doctor Joe took the forward end of one of the 
litters, and David the forward end of the other. 
With two boys carrying the rear end of each 
litter, and the other lads the skin, heart, liver and 


172 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


tongue and the two rifles and the ax they at length 
set out for camp. 

Night was falling and the first flakes of the com- 
ing snow-storm were felt upon their faces when 
finally the little white tents came in view. 

“ They’s no light/’ remarked David, who was in 
advance. “Jamie’s savin’ candles. I’m hopin’ 
now he has the kettle boilin’.” 

“ He’ll have un boilin’,” assured Andy, who was 
one of the two boys at the rear of David’s litter. 
“ He’ll be proud to have un boilin’ and supper 
started.” 

“ They’s no smoke ! ” exclaimed David appre- 
hensively as they came closer. “Jamie, b’y!” he 
shouted. “ Where is you ? Come out and see 
what we’re gettin’ ! ” 

But no Jamie came, and there was no answering 
call. The stretchers were hastily placed on the 
ground, and every tent searched for Jamie. 

“Jamie’s never been cornin’ back since we 
leaves ! ” David declared. “ Whatever has been 
happenin’ to he ? ” 

“ I can’t understand it,” said Doctor Joe. “ He 
could not possibly have been lost. Andy, you and 
Micah run down and look at the boats and see if 
he has been there.” 

Andy and Micah ran excitedly to the boats to 
report a few moments later that there were no in- 
dications of Jamie’s return. 

“David, you and I shall have to go and look 


MISSING ! 


173 


for him,” said Doctor Joe quietly. “Andy, you 
and the other lads build a fire outside as a guide. 
Get your supper, and don’t worry until we re- 
turn.” 

“ What do you think’s been happenin’ to 
Jamie? ” asked Andy anxiously. 

“We took a short cut and did not follow the 
brook where it makes a wide bend,” suggested 
Doctor Joe. “ He may be waiting for us along 
the brook at that point.” 

“ Oh, I hopes you’ll find he there ! ” said Andy 
fervently. 

“ Get your rifle and plenty of cartridges, David,” 
directed Doctor Joe. “ I’ll carry mine also. 
When we get up the trail we’ll shoot to let Jamie 
know we’re looking for him.” 

Each with a rifle on his shoulder, Doctor Joe 
in the lead and David following close behind, the 
two turned away into the now thickly falling snow 
and darkness. 


XVI 


BOUND AND HELPLESS 

“ EE here,” said the man in front, stopping 
and turning about after what had seemed 
hours to the exhausted and bruised Jamie, 
“ I for one ain’t goin’ to try to cross the Bay to- 
night in this here snow. It’s thicker’n mud, and 
there’s a sea runnin’ I won’t take chances with, 
not while I’m sober. We may’s well bunk.” 

“ Guess you’re right, pardner, we better bunk. 
But pull farther away to the west’ard before we 
put on a fire,” agreed Jamie’s captor with evident 
relief. “ That bunch’ll be out huntin’ this here 
kid, and they may run on to us if we camp too close 
to ’em.” 

“ We’re a good two mile from ’em now. They’ll 
never run on to us,” argued the other. 

“ Go on a piece farther,” insisted the man called 
“ Bill,” who was gripping Jamie’s arm so hard it 
ached. 

“ Let the kid go ! What’s the use of draggin’ 
him along? He’ll just be in our way, and we’ve 
got troubles enough of our own,” suggested the 
other. 


i74 


BOUND AND HELPLESS 


175 


4t He ain’t goin’ back and have a chance to give 
us away to that bunch, not if I knows it. I’ve 
about made up my mind to croak him. He knows 
too much. Go on and find a place to bunk. I’m 
follerin’.” 

“ You won’t croak anybody while I’m hangin’ 
around! I’m tellin’ you I’ve got troubles enough 
on my hands already without chasin’ a noose. I’m 
goin’ to save my neck anyhow, and I ain’t goin’ 
to be mixed up in any croakin’,” muttered the one 
called “ Hank,” as he turned and plunged forward 
again through the darkness. 

What “croaking” meant Jamie did not in the 
least know, but he suspected that it referred to 
something not in the least pleasant for himself. 
He was too tired, however, to think or care a 
great deal as he was dragged on, stumbling in the 
darkness over fallen logs, and bumping into trees. 

It seemed an interminable time to Jamie before 
the man ahead again stopped, and said decisively: 

“ We’ll camp here. We’ve gone far enough, 
and I ain’t goin’ another rod. We’re a good five 
mile from them fellers you’re afraid of.” 

“ All right, I’m satisfied. You’ve got the ax, 
go ahead and make a cover,” said Bill. “ Kid, 
you come with me and help break branches for the 
bed. Don’t you loaf neither. Do you hear me ? ” 

“ Yes, sir,” answered Jamie timidly. 

It was a relief to stop walking and to feel the 
man relax the relentless grip upon his arm, and 


176 TEOOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


Jamie, meekly enough, began breaking boughs with 
the man always within striking distance, as though 
afraid that he might run away and make his es- 
cape, though Jamie was quite too tired for that. 

The man with the ax cut a stiff pole and 
trimmed it. Then he lopped off the lower branches 
of two spruce trees that stood a convenient dis- 
tance apart, and laid the pole on a supporting 
limb of each tree, about four feet from the ground. 
This was to form the ridge of a lean-to shelter. 
Poles were now cut and formed into a sloping roof 
by resting one end upon the ridge pole, the other 
upon the ground, and the poles covered with a 
thick thatch of branches to exclude the snow. 

When this was completed a quantity of dry 
wood was cut, and in front of the lean-to a fire 
was lighted. 

While the man with the ax was engaged in 
thatching the roof and lighting the fire and gath- 
ering wood, the other turned his attention to the 
preparation of the bed. 

“ Don’t you try to break away, now ! ” he growled 
at Jamie. “ Fll shoot you like I would a rat if 
you do. Just stand there and hand me them 
branches, and shake the snow off’n ’em first, too. ,, 

Running was the last thing that Jamie contem- 
plated doing even though there had been no danger 
of the man executing his threat. He was so tired 
he could scarcely stand upon his feet, and he had 
eaten nothing since the hurried meal at midday. 


BOUND AND HELPLESS 


177 


At length the bed was laid, and the men sat 
down within the shelter of the lean-to, and Bill 
ordered: 

“ Git down here, you kid, and set still too. Don’t 
you try to leave here. You know what’s cornin’ 
to you if you do.” 

As Jamie meekly and thankfully complied, Bill 
ran his arm into the bag that had been cached in 
the tree, and which had been the cause of all of 
Jamie’s trouble, and drawing forth a bottle re- 
moved the cork and took a long pull from its con- 
tents. Making a face as though it did not taste 
good, he handed it over to Hank, remarking: 

“ Have a nip, Hank. It’ll warm you up and 
make you feel good. I don’t like this cruisin’ in 
the dark.” 

Hank accepted the bottle and after drinking 
from it returned it to the bag. Then each drew a 
pipe and a plug of black tobacco from his pocket, 
and cutting some of the tobacco with the knife 
rolled it between the palms of his hands, stuffed it 
into his pipe and lighted it with a brand from the 
fire. For several minutes they sat and smoked in 
silence. 

In the meantime Jamie sat timidly upon the 
boughs next the man Bill. As the fire blazed, the 
chill of the storm and night was driven out, and a 
cozy, comfortable warmth filled the lean-to. 
Jamie’s eyes became heavy, and in spite of his un- 
happy position he dozed. 


178 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

“ See here,” said the man, “ you may’s well 
sleep, but I ain’t goin’ to take any chances on you. 
I’m goin’ to tie you so’s you won’t be givin’ us 
the slip.” 

“ Oh, leave the kid be, Bill ! He’s all right ! ” 
the other man objected. 

“ I ain’t takin’ chances,” growled Bill. " I'm 
goin’ to have some say about it, too.” 

He fumbled in his pocket, and drawing forth 
some stout twine proceeded to tie Jamie’s hands 
securely behind his back. Then he tied Jamie’s 
feet, and gave him a push to the rear. 

“Now I guess you’ll stay with us all right,” he 
grinned. 

“ Aw, leave the kid be ! What you want to tie 
him for ? ” Hank protested. “ He can’t get away. 
Better let him go anyhow.” 

“ You leave me be to do what I wants to do and 
I’ll leave you be to do what you wants to,” growled 
Bill. “ I’m goin’ to keep this kid fast. This is 
my business.” 

“ I don’t know as it’s all your business,” snapped 
Hank. “ I’m mixed up in it too, seems to me.” 

“ Well, I caught the kid, and I’m goin’ to have 
my say about what I do with him,” Bill retorted. 
“ I ain’t goin’ to let him make trouble for us, not if 
I knows what I’m about.” 

Hank made no reply, but puffed silently at his 
pipe. 

Jamie was wide awake again. This man Bill 


BOUND AND HELPLESS 


179 


meant some evil, and the little lad wondered 
vaguely what it could be that was to be done to 
himself, and what his fate was to be. He was 
vastly uncomfortable, too, with his hands tied be- 
hind his back, though he was glad enough to be 
permitted to lie down. He could scarcely keep 
the tears back, as he thought of the happy time in 
camp that had been planned, of the snug tent 
where he was to have slept with Doctor Joe, and 
of his own warm bed at home, and he wondered 
whether he would ever see The Jug again. 

“ The boss’ll be sore at us, Hank, if we ain’t back 
to camp to-morrow,” remarked Bill presently, 
breaking the silence. “ He can be sore though if 
he wants to. He can’t fire us fellers for bein’ away 
even if he does get sore and cuss us out. He needs 
us bad, and he can’t get any more men now. I 
don’t mind his cussin’. Cussin’ don’t hurt a feller.” 

“If the wind don’t get worse and the snow lets 
up some so we can make out our way we better 
go back though as soon as it’s light enough in the 
mornin’,” answered Hank. “ I wish I was out’n 
this business anyhow.” 

“We can get across the Bay even if it does snow 
some in the mornin’, long’s there ain’t too much 
sea,” said Bill. “ I’m for gettin’ away from here 
too. We’ve got the swag all right and nobody’ll 
know about it, if we don’t let this kid loose to 
blab. It was lucky we caught this feller before he 
found it, but he heard too much.” 


180 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ What you goin’ to do with him, Bill ? ” 

“ Croak him. I ain’t goin’ to take chances with 
him. It ain’t my way to take chances I don’t have 
to take.” 

“ You better not do any croakin’, Bill. I won’t 
stand for that. I’m tough, and I’ve done plenty of 
tough things in my day, but I never croaked a little 
kid like him, and I won’t stand for it.” 

“ Don’t you go and get soft now. ’Tain’t any 
wc: se to croak a kid than a man. You’d croak a 
man if you had to, and this is a time when we’ve 
got to do it to save ourselves.” 

“ Well, I won’t stand for it while I’m sober, and 
I’m sober now even if I have had a drink or two.” 
Hank reached for a firebrand with which to re- 
light his pipe. 

“ Well, you’ve got to stand for this. I’m mixed 
up in it just as much as you be, and I’m goin’ to 
have some say. I ain’t goin’ to take chances on 
him goin’ back to his gang and givin’ us away.” 

“ How you goin’ to do it ? ” 

“ Take him along in the boat and drop him 
overboard. That’s the easiest way. There ain’t 
much chance of anybody findin’ him, and if they 
do they’ll just think he got drownded some way 
hisself. Dead folks don’t talk.” 

“ That’s somethin’ I won’t stand for! You 
can’t go droppin’ anybody overboard while I’m in 
the boat ! Not if I know it ! ” 

“ What you goin’ to do, play the sucker? ” Bill 


BOUND AND HELPLESS 


181 


turned angrily toward his companion. “ Maybe 
you'll go and peach ! ” 

“ Don't you call me a sucker ! Don't you say 
I'm a peacher! " Hank rose to his feet and faced 
Bill menacingly. 

For a moment Jamie thought the men were go- 
ing to fight, but Bill remained seated and his man- 
ner suddenly changed. Jamie thought he acted as 
though he were afraid. 

“ See here. Hank,” Bill's voice was modified 
and conciliatory, “ I ain’t callin' you a sucker, and 
I ain't say in' you'll peach. What's the use of us 
fellers fightin’ about it ? We’re in this together and 
we’re pardners. We've got to hang together. 
What's the use of us gettin’ on the outs? ” 

“ I'm willin' to hang together but I won’t be 
called a sucker or peacher by anybody, and I ain't 
goin' to stand for any croakin' neither while I’ve 
got a gun ! Hear me ? ” 

“ What we goin' to do about this here kid then? 
We can't let him go. He’ll up and run back and 
blab. He’s heard too much about our business. 
We don’t want to go huntin’ trouble, do we ? Well, 
we’ll be huntin’ trouble if we let him go. He 
knows too much and he knows all about who we 
be too.” 

“ What does he know, now ? He don’t know 
anything except what you’ve gone and blabbed 
yourself. We just caught him tryin’ to swipe our 
cache. The stuff is our’n. ’Tain’t his’n. Our 


182 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


stuff is our’n, ain’t it? What can he blab about? 
That’s what I want to know ! ” 

“ He’ll go and tell folks we’ve got this here swag 
from the ship, and it’ll go to the boss. That’s 
what he knows, and that’s what he’ll blab.” 

“ Well, what we’ve got is our’n. He can’t prove 
we’ve got that there swag, and we’ll hide it where 
the boss can’t find it. He hain’t seen any swag 
around, has he ? He can’t say he has neither, and 
he won’t He just thought maybe we had that 
there fox skin. What’s that got to do with us? 
We don’t care what he thinks, and what he thinks 
won’t hurt us as I knows of. What we’ve got and 
what we ain’t got don’t make any difference to 
these fellers. What they don’t know won’t hurt 
’em. It ain’t theirs, and nobody better go meddlin’ 
in what I has and does. Let that there kid go 
now, Bill, and get him off’n our hands.” 

“ You just leave him to me, Hank. I ain’t goin’ 
to let him go and blab, I say, and get both of us in 
a hole. I’ve got some say, hain’t I, Hank ? ” 

“ Well, don’t do any croakin’ when I’m around 
to see, that’s all I’ve got to say. He’s your’n to 
do the way you want to with. I won’t have any 
finger in it. It’s your job, it ain’t mine.” 

“ Well, I’ll do the croakin’ some other way. You 
needn’t have anything to do about it if you’re 
afraid. I’ll do it all by myself.” 

“ Afraid or no afraid I ain’t goin’ to be mixed 
up in any croakin’, and that ends it as far as I go.” 


BOUND AND HELPLESS 


183 


Hank knocked the ashes from his pipe, refilled 
it from the black plug, and lifting a red hot coal 
from the fire placed it upon the bowl, and puffed 
for a moment. When the tobacco was glowing to 
his satisfaction, he flicked the coal back into the 
fire, and sat silently smoking. 

Jamie, lying quiet, had listened to the conversa- 
tion of the two men. He was wide awake now. 
He did not understand the significance of “ croak- 
ing,” but the word had an ominous sound. It re- 
ferred to something the man called Bill wished to 
do to him and something to which the man called 
Hank objected. He understood, however, the 
threat to throw him into the Bay. The fellow Bill 
wished to do this while Hank was determined to 
prevent it. 

Instinctively Jamie felt that Hank was only de- 
fending him in order to protect himself. He had 
no personal interest in him, but did not propose to 
be involved in any trouble that might arise through 
some action that Bill wished to take. He was glad 
when, finally, it appeared settled that he was not 
to be thrown into the sea. 

Bill arose and replenished the fire, and following 
Hank’s example refilled and lighted his pipe, then 
reseated himself. 

Neither of the men spoke. Beyond their great 
hulking figures the fire gleamed and sent a circle 
of radiance. Beyond the circle the forest lay as 
black as a tomb. The snow fell steadily, and the 


184 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


wind sighed and moaned ominously through the 
tree tops. 

What were Doctor Joe and the lads doing? 
Were they searching for him through the black- 
ness of the night and the storm? If he had only 
followed Doctor Joe’s instructions and returned to 
camp in season! Would these men kill him? 
Would he ever see the dear old home at The Jug 
again? 

With these thoughts flashing through his mind 
Jamie prayed a silent little prayer: 

“ Dear Lard, don’t let un kill me ! Take me back 
to The Jug again! ” 

Many times he repeated this to himself. Then 
there came to him something Thomas had once 
said when the mist was clouding his eyes: 

“ Have plenty o’ grit, lad, and a stout heart like 
a man.” 

This comforted and strengthened him, and, like 
the prayer, he repeated it over and over again to 
himself as he lay watching the silent men. For a 
long time he watched them and the fire beyond and 
the falling snow and the black wall of the forest. 
Finally tired nature came to his relief. His eyes 
closed and he fell into a troubled sleep. 


XVII 

LOST IN A BLIZZARD 
FTER a time Jamie awoke. The two men 



were still sitting by the fire and were again 


drinking from the bottle. He was uncom- 
fortable in his cramped position, but dared not 
move, and he lay very still and watched the men 
and the fire and the black wall of the mysterious, 
trackless forest beyond. Shadows rose and fell 
and flitted in and out of the circle of firelight. 
Weird and uncanny they seemed, taking strange 
forms like dancing spirits. In the darkness out- 
side the firelight and moving shadows Jamie 
fancied that terrible ghoulish forms were stalking 
stealthily and grinning maliciously at him. 

For a long while Jamie lay awake and watched. 
Again and again the men drank from the bottle, 
and when they spoke at intervals their voices 
sounded unnatural and thick. Once one of them 
arose to replenish the fire, and he moved unsteadily 
upon his feet, at which the little lad marvelled, for 
he was a large, strong man. Presently Jamie’s 
eyes drooped again, and once more he slept. 

When he again awoke dawn was breaking. 


185 


186 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


Snow was falling heavily. The two men were in 
a deep sleep. The fire had died down to a bed of 
coals, and Jamie was shivering with the cold. 

His arms were numb, and his body and limbs 
ached from the cramped position in which he lay 
because of his bound arms and feet. With some 
effort he turned over, and this brought him some 
relief, but not for long, and presently he rolled back 
to his original position that he might see the red 
coals of the fire. 

Jamie tried to move his hands, but his wrists 
were too firmly tied, and the effort brought only 
pain. Then he lay still and studied the smouldering 
fire. Behind it lay the remnants of a backlog that 
had been burned through in the center. The inner 
ends of the log, where it was separated, were, like 
the coals before it, red and glowing, and he thought 
that if he could push them together they would 
blaze and give out warmth. 

Then, suddenly, an idea flashed into Jamie’s 
brain. Those red ends of the log would burn the 
string that bound him, and he could free himself 
if he could only reach them and press the string 
against them. 

His movements in turning over had not dis- 
turbed his captors. They were still sleeping pro- 
foundly. From the condition of the fire it was 
evident they had been sitting by it the greater part 
of the night and had replenished it at a late hour, 
else all the coals would have been dead. 


LOST m A BLIZZARD 


187 


Hank lay at the opposite end of the lean-to from 
Jamie, and Bill in the center, with their feet toward 
the fire. Jamie was lying in the back, his head 
near Bill’s head and his feet toward the end of the 
lean-to farthest from Hank. 

For several minutes Jamie studied the position 
of each and the possibilities of working his way out 
of the lean-to without awakening the men. Finally 
he determined to make an attempt to gain his 
freedom. 

Cautiously and as noiselessly as possible he began 
to wriggle away, inch by inch, from Bill, and to- 
ward the fire. Several times he fancied the men 
moved restlessly in their sleep, but when he looked 
toward them they appeared to be still sleeping 
heavily. On each occasion, however, he lay still 
until he became wholly satisfied that he had been 
mistaken and that they had not been disturbed. 

Little by little he edged away until at length he 
was well outside the lean-to. His efforts were 
painful and slow, but in the course of half an 
hour he was near enough to the end of the log to 
touch it with his bound feet. His exertions had 
set his blood in motion and inspired him with hope 
of success. 

With much care and patience he pushed the stick 
around until he was able to rest the string, where 
it crossed between his ankles, upon the glowing 
end. Drawing his feet as far apart as possible, 
with all the strength he possessed, he was quickly 


188 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


rewarded by feeling a relaxation, and in a moment 
his heart leaped with joy. The string was severed. 

Squirming around upon his chest, Jamie arose 
to a kneeling position, and then stood erect. So 
far as his legs were concerned he was free. 

Jamie’s first impulse was to run wildly away, but 
he restrained himself. Standing over the men he 
looked down upon them. Neither had moved, and 
to all appearances they were sleeping as soundly 
as ever. 

“ I’m thinkin’ now I’ll try to burn off the string 
on my hands too,” he decided. “ ’Twill be easier 
gettin’ on with un free, and I’ll travel a rare lot 
faster with my arms loose.” 

Burning the strings from his wrists, however, 
proved a much more difficult problem than burning 
them from his ankles. He sat down with his back 
to the hot end of the stick, but discovered that it 
was no easy matter to find just the right position 
between the wrists. Several efforts resulted only 
in painful burns on his hands, but he was not dis- 
couraged, and finally was rewarded. The string 
where it crossed between his wrists was brought 
into contact with the sharp point of the glowing 
hot stick, and though the reflected heat burned him 
cruelly he held the string pressed against the fire 
until at last it crumbled away and his hands flew 
apart. 

“ She took grit,” said he, “ but I made out to do 


LOST IN A BLIZZARD 


189 


With the joy of freedom and the anxiety to 
escape his tormentors, Jamie was oblivious to the 
pain of his burned and blistered wrists. He could 
use both hands and feet, and was confident that he 
would soon find the camp and his friends. 

Jamie ran as fast as his short legs would carry 
him. The snow was nearly knee deep, but it was 
soft and feathery and he scarcely gave it thought 
at first. He had no doubt that he knew exactly 
in which direction camp lay, and it never entered 
his head that he might go wrong or lose his way 
as he dashed through the woods at the best speed 
of which he was capable. 

Presently the impediment of the snow compelled 
him to reduce his gait to a walk, and for nearly an 
hour he pushed on in what he supposed was a 
straight line, when he came suddenly upon fresh 
ax cuttings and a moment later saw through the 
thickly falling snow a familiar lean-to. He stopped 
in consternation and fright, scarcely knowing 
which way to turn. Pie was within fifty feet of 
the two desperate men from whom he had so re- 
cently fled. In the storm he had made a complete 
circuit. 

The men were still soundly sleeping, and in- 
stinctively Jamie backed away. He had lost a full 
hour of valuable time. The men might awake at 
any moment, discover his absence and trail him 
and overtake him in the snow. These thoughts 
flashed through Jamie’s mind, and in wild panic 


190 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


he turned and ran until at length exhaustion 
brought him to a halt. 

“ They’ll sure be cotchin’ me,” he panted, “ and 
I’m not knowin’ the way in the snow ! I’ll be goin’ 
right around and cornin’ back again to the same 
place and I don’t look out! I can’t bide here,” he 
continued in desperation. “ I’ll have to go some- 
wheres else or they’ll sure cotch me ! ” 

Bewildered and frightened Jamie looked wildly 
about him. Then he bethought himself of the 
compass in his pocket. Eagerly drawing it forth 
he held it in his hand and studied its face. 

“ The Bay’s to the suth’ard, whatever,” he cal- 
culated. “If the Bay’s to the suth’ard the brook’s 
to the east’ard. I’ll be lettin’ the compass pilot me 
to the east’ard. ’Twill take me the right direction 
whatever.” 

Levelling the compass carefully in his hand so 
that the needle swung freely he found the east, and 
as rapidly as his little legs would carry him set 
out again in his effort to escape the two sleeping 
men and to find camp and his friends. 

At intervals he stopped to consult his compass. 
Then he would hurry forward again as fast as 
ever he could go through the snow, looking behind 
him fearfully, half expecting each time to see the 
men in close pursuit, and always with the dread 
that a gruff voice in the rear would command him 
to halt, or that a rifle ball would be sent after him 
without warning. 


LOST IN A BLIZZARD 


191 


As time passed and there was no indication that 
he was followed, Jamie began to feel some degree 
of security. Because of the storm it was unlikely 
that the men would venture upon the Bay. They 
had kept late hours drinking at the bottle, and un- 
less they were awakened by the cold they would in 
all probability sleep late and therefore not discover 
his absence until the thickly falling snow had so far 
covered his trail as to preclude the possibility of 
them following it with certainty. 

With his mind more or less relieved on this 
point, Jamie suddenly realized that he was hungry. 
It was nearing midday. He had eaten nothing for 
twenty-four hours, and he had the normal appetite 
of a healthy boy. The snow had perceptibly in- 
creased in depth since his escape from the lean-to, 
and walking was correspondingly hard. He was 
so hungry and so weary that at length he could 
scarcely force one foot ahead of the other. 

The wind was rising, and in crossing an open 
frozen marsh the snow drifted before the gale in 
clouds so dense as to be suffocating. The storm 
was attaining the proportions of a blizzard, and 
when Jamie again reached the shelter of the forest 
beyond the marsh he found it necessary to stop 
to rest and regain his breath. 

“ 'Twill never do to try to cross another mesh," 
he decided. “ I'm like to be overcome with un and 
perish before I finds my way out of un to the 
timber. I’ll stick to the woods, and if I can’t stick 


192 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


to un 111 have to bide where I is till the snow 
stops. I wonder’s now if Doctor Joe and David 
is out lookin’ for me. I’m not thinkin’ they’d bide 
in the tent with me lost out here and they not 
knowin’ where I is.” 

When he was rested a little he arose, took his 
direction with the compass, and floundered on 
through the snow. 

“ They’s sure out somewhere lookin’ for me,” he 
thought, “ but ’tis snowin’ so hard they never will 
find me ! I’ll have to keep goin’ till I finds camp. 
’Tis strange now I’m not cornin’ to the brook, ’tis 
wonderful strange. I’m thinkin’ though I were 
crossin’ two meshes with the men in the night, and 
I’ve only been crossin’ one goin’ back to-day. I’m 
fearin’ I’ll never be able to cross un though, when 
I comes to the next un.” 

Presently, as Jamie had thought would be the 
case, he came to another marsh. It satisfied him 
that he was going in the right direction, but at the 
same time it lay out before him as a well-nigh im- 
passable barrier. The wind was driving the snow 
across it in swirling dense clouds, and he stood for 
a little in the shelter of the trees and viewed it with 
heavy heart. 

“ ’Tis a bigger mesh than the other,” he com- 
mented to himself, “ but I’ll have to try to cross 
un. I can’t bide here. I’ll freeze to death with 
no shelter and I has no ax for makin’ a shelter. 
I’m not knowin’ what to do.” 


LOST IN A BLIZZARD 


193 


For a little while he hesitated, then he plunged 
out upon the edge of the marsh. He was nearly 
swept from his feet, and to recover his breath 
he was forced to retreat again to the woods. Three 
times he tried to face the storm-swept marsh, but 
each time was sent staggering back to shelter. It 
was a task beyond the strength and endurance of 
so young a lad, and utterly exhausted and bitterly 
disappointed, he sat down upon the trunk of a 
fallen tree to rest. 

“ I never can make un whilst the nasty weather 
lasts,” he acknowledged. “ Fm fair scrammed and 
I’ll have to wait for the wind to ease before I tries 
un again.” 

He could scarce restrain the tears. It was a 
bitter disappointment. He was so hungry, and so 
weary, and wished so hard to reach the safety of 
camp and freedom from the still present danger 
of being recaptured. 

“ I’ll have plenty o’ grit and a stout heart like 
a man,” he presently declared. “ I don’t mind 
bein’ a bit hungry, and I’ll never be givin’ up! 
I’ll never give up whatever ! Pop says plenty o’ 
grit’ll pull a man out o’ most any fix. I’m in a bad 
fix now, and I’ll have grit and won’t be gettin’ 
scared. ’Twill never do to be gettin’ scared what- 
ever’’ 

Jamie sat quietly upon the log, and presently 
found himself dozing. He sprang to his feet, for 
sleeping under these conditions was dangerous. 


194 TROOP ORE OF THE LABRADOR 


He tried to walk about, but was so tired that he 
again returned to the log to rest. It was growing 
colder, and he shivered. The storm was increasing 
in fury. 

“ I’m not knowin’ what to do ! ” he said despair- 
ingly. “ If I goes on I’ll perish and if I keeps still 
I’ll freeze to death and I’m too wearied to move 
about to keep warm. ’Tis likely the storm’ll last 
the night through whatever, and I’ll never be able 
to stick un out that long.” 

Jamie again found himself dozing, and again he 
got upon his feet. 

“ I’ll have to be doin’ somethin’,” said he. “ I’ll 
keep my grit and try to think of somethin’ to do 
or I’ll perish.” 

Jamie was right. He was in peril, and grave 
peril. Even though the storm-swept marsh had 
not stood in his way he was quite too weary to 
walk farther. He was thrown entirely upon his 
own resources. His life depended upon his own 
initiative, for he was quite beyond help from 
others. It was a great unpeopled wilderness in 
which Jamie was lost, and he was but a wee lad, 
and even though Doctor Joe and David were look- 
ing for him there was scarce a chance that they 
could find him in the raging storm. 


XVIII 


A PLACE TO “ BIDE ” 

D AZED and almost hopeless Jamie stood 
and gazed about him at the thick falling 
snow. His body and brain were tired, 
but some immediate action was imperative or he 
would be overcome by his weariness and the cold. 

“ If I were only br ingin’ an ax, I could fix a 
place to bide in and cut wood for a fire,” he said. 
“ If I were only bringin’ an ax! ” 

He thrust his hands deep into his pocket and felt 
the big, stout jack-knife that Doctor Joe had given 
him, and he drew it out. 

“ Maybe now I can fix un with just this,” he 
said hopefully. “ I’ve got to have grit and I’ve 
got to try my best whatever” 

He looked up and there, within two feet of the 
log upon which he had been sitting, were two 
spruce trees about six feet apart. 

“ Maybe I can fix un right here,” he commented, 
“ and maybe I can lay a fire against the log and 
if I can get un afire she’ll burn a long while and 
keep un warm.” 

With much effort he cut and trimmed a stiff, 
i95 


196 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


strong pole. The lower limbs of the trees were not 
above four feet from the ground, and upon these 
he rested his pole, extending it from tree to tree. 
This was to form the ridge pole to support the 
roof of his lean-to, for he was to form a shelter 
similar to that improvised by the two men the 
evening before. 

Then he cut other poles to form the roof, and 
resting them upon the ridge pole and the ground 
at a convenient angle to make a commodious space 
beneath, he covered them with a thick thatch of 
boughs, which were easily broken from the over- 
hanging limbs of surrounding trees. This done 
he enclosed the ends of his shelter in like manner, 
and laid beneath it a floor of boughs. 

Jamie surveyed his work with satisfaction and 
hope. No snow could reach the cave-like interior, 
and it was as well protected and as comfortable as 
ever a lean-to could be made, and a very little 
fire would warm it. Though much smaller, it was 
quite as good a shelter as that made by the two 
men, and possessed the added advantage of closed 
ends, which would render it much easier to heat. 
He had occupied more than two hours in its con- 
struction, and it had called for ingenuity and much 
hard work. 

The opening of the lean-to faced the fallen tree 
trunk, which lay before it in such a position that 
it would serve excellently as a backlog. 

Though he had no ax with which to cut fire- 


A PLACE TO “BIDE” 


197 


wood, he soon discovered upon scouting about that 
scattered through the forest were many dried and 
broken limbs that could be had for the gathering, 
and in a little while he had accumulated a sufficient 
supply to serve for several hours. 

This done he pushed away the snow from before 
the fallen tree trunk as best he could. Using as 
tinder a handful of the long hairy moss that hung 
from the inner limbs of the spruce trees, he lighted 
it with a match from the tin box salvaged the 
previous day at the big rock. Placing the burning 
moss upon the cleared spot next the log he applied 
small sticks and, as they caught fire, larger ones, 
until presently a fire was blazing and crackling 
cheerily in front of his lean-to with the fallen tree 
as a backlog to reflect the heat. 

Utterly weary Jamie stretched himself upon his 
bed of boughs, and it seemed to him that he had 
never been in a cozier place in all his life. 

“ Pop were sayin’ right when he says grit will 
help a man over any tight place,” breathed Jamie 
contentedly. “ If I were givin* up I’d sure perished 
before to-morrow mornin’, for ’tis growin* won- 
derful cold ; but I has grit and a stout heart like a 
man, and I gets a place to bide and a fine warm 
fire to heat un.” 

With the first moments of relaxation, Jamie 
became aware that his wrists were exceedingly 
painful, and upon examination he discovered that 
they had been burned much worse than he had 


198 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


realized in his attempts to sever the string that 
bound them. Large blisters had been raised, and 
one of the blisters had been broken, doubtless while 
he was engaged in building his lean-to shelter. The 
loose skin had been rubbed off, and the angry red 
wound left unprotected. 

“ I’ll have to fix un,” he declared. “ The sore 
places’ll be gettin’ rubbed against things, and be a 
wonderful lot worse and I leaves un bide as 
they is.” 

In the course of the first aid instruction, Doctor 
Joe had taught Jamie, as well as David and Andy, 
the art of applying bandages, but now Jamie had 
no bandages to apply. For a little while he help- 
lessly contemplated his wrists. But for the fact 
that they were becoming exceedingly painful he 
would have decided to ignore them, for in his 
wearied condition it was an effort to do anything. 

“ I knows how I’ll fix un,” he said at length. 
“ I’ll cut pieces from the bottom o’ my shirt to 
bind un up with. They’ll keep un from gettin’ 
rubbed whatever, and when I gets back to camp 
Doctor Joe’ll fix un up right.” 

This he proceeded to do at once with the aid of 
his jack-knife, and presently had two serviceable 
bandages ready to apply. 

“ Doctor Joe were say in’ how to keep the air 
away from burns by usin’ oil or molasses or flour 
or somethin’,” he hesitated. “ And he were sayin’ 
to keep sores from gettin’ dirt into un zvhateve r. 


A PLACE TO “BIDE 


199 


He says the sores’ll be gettin’ inflicted or infested 
or somethin’, — I’m not rememberin’ just what 
’twere, but somethin’ bad whateve r — if they gets 
dirt into un. I’ve been wearin’ the shirt three 
days, and I’m thinkin’ ’tis not as clean as Doctor 
Joe wants the bindin’ for sores to be, and I’ll cover 
the sore place where the blisters were rubbin’ off 
with fir sap. That’ll keep un clean. Pop says 
’tis fine for sores.” 

Crawling out of his nest Jamie found a young 
balsam fir tree, and with his sharp jack-knife cut 
from the bark several of the little sacs in which 
sap is secreted. He had often seen Thomas cut 
them and daub the contents upon cuts and bruises, 
and sometimes even have him and the other boys 
take the sap as medicine. Returning to the lean-to 
he pierced the ends of the sacs with the point of 
his knife, and carefully smeared the contents over 
his burned wrist where the skin was broken, taking 
care that all of the exposed flesh was well covered 
with the sap. Jamie had, indeed, fallen upon the 
best antiseptic dressing that the surrounding woods 
supplied. 

This done to his satisfaction, he bound his wrists 
with the improvised bandages, applying them care- 
fully, after the manner in which Doctor Joe had 
taught him in his lessons in first aid. 

“ ’Tain’t so bad,” commented Jamie holding the 
wrists up and surveying them with satisfaction. 
“ They feels a wonderful lot easier, whatever. But 


200 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


I’d never been knowin' how if ’tweren’t for Doctor 
Joe showin' me.” 

Jamie stretched himself upon the bed of boughs, 
and for a time lay watching the fire and thickly 
falling snow and listening to the wind shrieking 
and howling through the tree tops. Several times 
he fancied he heard the report of distant rifle shots, 
and at these times he would start up and listen 
intently and look cautiously out, half expecting and 
fearful that he would see the two lumbermen com- 
ing to recapture him. 

But no one came to disturb him, and he assured 
himself at length that he had heard only the 
cracking of dead branches in the storm, and that 
there had been no rifle shots. Then, at last, his 
eyes drooped and he slept. 

Hours afterward Jamie awoke. He was shiv- 
ering with the cold. The fire had burned out, save 
the backlog which still glowed. It was night. 
The storm had passed and the wind dropped to 
fitful blasts. The stars were shining brightly, and 
the sky was clear save for feathery, fast moving 
cloud patches. 

Jamie rebuilt the fire, and lay down to await 
morning. He was so hungry that he could scarce 
lie still, but again his eyes drooped and again he 
slept. 

It was near daybreak when Jamie was startled 
by some unusual noise, and sat up with a jerk. He 
listened intently, and satisfied that some one was 


A. PLACE TO 44 BIDE ” 


201 


approaching sprang up and looked cautiously out, 
seized with panic and ready for flight. In the dim 
starlight he could plainly see two men coming to- 
ward him over the marsh. 


XIX 


SEARCHING THE WHITE WILDERNESS 

N EARLY three hours passed before Doc- 
tor Joe and David returned to camp, 
disheartened and thoroughly alarmed, to 
report that they had found no trace of Jamie. In 
the thick-falling snow and darkness they had been 
forced to relinquish the search until daylight 
should come to their assistance. 

Andy and the boys were dazed. It could hardly 
be comprehended or credited that Jamie was, in- 
deed, lost. They ate their belated supper in silence, 
half expecting that he would, after all, come walk- 
ing in upon them. Doctor Joe was grave and pre- 
occupied. Several times now he, now David, went 
out into the night to stand and listen in the storm, 
but all they heard was the wail of wind in the tree 
tops. 

At last, with heavy hearts, they went to bed, 
upon Doctor Joe’s advice. Andy asked that he 
might pass the night in the tent with Doctor Joe 
and David, and so it was arranged. Neither Andy 
nor David, more worried than they had ever been 
in all their lives before, felt the least like sleep. 
Doctor Joe did not lie down with them. For a 


202 


SEARCHING THE WHITE WILDERNESS 203 


long while the two lads lay awake and watched him 
crouching before the stove smoking his pipe, his 
face grave and thoughtful. He had spoken no 
v/ord of encouragement, and the lads knew that he 
was troubled beyond expression. 

The wind was rising. In sudden gusts of anger 
it dashed the snow against the tent in swirling 
blasts, and moaned dismally through the tree tops. 
The crackling fire in the stove, usually so cheerful, 
only served now to increase their sorrow. It 
offered warmth and comfort and protection from 
the night and cold and drifting snow, which Jamie, 
if he had not perished, was denied. They could 
only think of him as wandering and suffering in 
the cold and darkness, hungry and miserable, and 
they condemned themselves. 

When sleep finally carried the lads into uncon- 
sciousness, Doctor Joe’s tall figure was still crouch- 
ing before the stove, and when they awoke he was 
already up and had kindled a fresh fire in the stove, 
though it was not yet day, and the tent was lighted 
by the flickering flame of a candle. 

“ ’Twill be daylight by the time we’ve finished 
breakfast,” said Doctor Joe as the lads sat up. 
“ It’s snowing harder than ever, but I think we had 
better go out as soon as we can see and have a 
look up the brook. Jamie may not be so far away. 
We may find him bivouacked quite close to camp. 
The snow is getting deep and we shall not find 
travelling easy.” 


204 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“ We’ll be lookin’ the best we can, whatever,” 
agreed David. “ I couldn’t bide in the tent with 
Jamie gone. I’m wakin’ with a wonderful heavy 
heart. I’m findin’ it hard to believe he’s not 
about camp, and I weren’t just dreamin’ about he 
bein’ lost.” 

“ That’s the way I feels too,” said Andy. “ I 
wakes feelin’ most like I’d have to cry. Can’t I 
be goin’ with you and Davy? I never can bide 
here whilst you’re away, Doctor Joe.” 

“ Yes, we three will go and we’ll take some of 
the other lads with us, though we’ll have to leave 
somebody in camp to keep the fire going,” agreed 
Doctor Joe. “ We’ll need warm tents when we 
come back, if we bring Jamie with us, and I hope 
we’ll find him none the worse for his night out.” 

“ ’Tisn’t like ’twere winter,” suggested David 
hopefully. “ ’Tisn’t so cold, if he were havin’ 
matches to put on a fire, but I’m doubtin’ he has 
matches.” 

“ Let us hope he had. Andy, suppose you call 
the others,” suggested Doctor Joe. “ Breakfast is 
nearly ready.” 

Andy was already dressed, and hurrying out he 
presently returned with the other lads. Breakfast 
of venison and bread with hot tea was hurriedly 
eaten, while they put forth all sorts of theories as 
to the cause of Jamie’s disappearance, and the 
possibilities of finding him. 

“ I’m thinkin’ now,” said David with a more 


SEAKCHING THE WHITE WILDEKNESS 205 

hopeful view as daylight began to filter through 
the tent, “ that Jamie’ll be knowin’ how to fix a 
shelter, and that we’ll be findin’ he safe and that 
he’ll be just losin’ his way a bit in the storm. If 
he has matches he’ll sure be puttin’ a fire on.” 

“ I’m doubtin’ he has the matches,” suggested 
Andy discouragingly. “ He weren’t thinkin’ to be 
away from camp and he weren’t takin’ any. He 
were never on the trails, and he’d sure be forgettin’ 
to take un.” 

“ Let us hope he has them,” Doctor Joe en- 
couraged. “If he has matches I’m sure he’ll be 
safe enough.” 

“ ’Twere my fault he were gettin’ lost,” said 
Seth. “ He’d never been gettin’ lost if I’d only 
kept he in sight the way you said to do.” 

“ No,” objected Doctor Joe, “ we’ll not say it 
was anybody’s fault.” 

Presently they were ready. Seth and Micah 
were detailed to remain in camp, and the others 
set forth, David and Doctor Joe carrying their 
rifles. 

In much the same manner as that adopted in the 
search for the rock the previous day, Doctor Joe 
and the boys spread out on the left, or westward, 
side of the brook. Now, however, they were 
much closer together, because they could see so 
short a distance through the snow. Walking was 
much harder, and their progress correspondingly 
slower. 


206 TROOP ONE OP THE LABRADOR 


Thus they continued to the farthest point reached 
before turning back the previous day, David or 
Doctor Joe now and again firing shots from their 
rifles. Then they turned back, making the return 
just to the westward of the trail made by Doctor 
Joe, who was on the left flank as they passed up the 
brook. 

“ There’s a rock ! There’s a big rock ! ” shouted 
David, as the rock where Jamie had begun his 
search for the cache loomed high through the 
snow. 

Every one ran to the rock, and as they gathered 
by its side, Andy exclaimed: 

“ I knows now what Jamie does ! He were near 
enough to see the rock! He were the last one 
beyond Seth, and he finds un and he goes huntin’ 
the cache by himself, and it gets dark and he gets 
lost when the snow comes ! ” 

“ That sounds reasonable,” admitted Doctor Joe. 
“ I shouldn’t be the least surprised if you were 
right! It’s more than probable that’s just what 
happened ! The thing now is to find the direction 
Jamie probably took from here, and the snow has 
covered all trace of him.” 

“ With his trail all covered, there’ll be no trackin’ 
he. What’ll we do about un ? ” asked David. 
“ ’Tis hard to think out what way Jamie’d be like 
to go from here.” 

“ Let’s try goin’ the way the paper said the 
cache was,” suggested Andy. “ Maybe Jamie finds 


SEARCHING THE WHITE WILDERNESS 207 


un in the tree and climbs the tree and falls and 
hurts himself.” 

“Andy is right,” agreed Doctor Joe. “ It is 
quite likely he used his copy of the directions to 
find the cache, and that he went in the direction 
specified. We’ll do the same.” 

It did not take them long to find the hackmatack 
tree, and in doing so they stumbled upon the pile 
of rocks Jamie had built up for a compass rest. It 
was covered with snow, but was high enough to be 
discernible, and a careful clearing of the snow 
discovered the fact that the stones had been re- 
cently piled. 

“ They may have been piled by the man who 
made the cache,” suggested Doctor Joe. 

“ He’d never been doin’ that! ” objected David. 
“ ’Twould make the tree too easy to find. I’m 
thinkin’ ’twere Jamie piles un.” 

“ What would Jamie be pilin’ the stones for 
now ? ” asked Lige sceptically. “ He’d not be 
takin’ time to go pilin’ up stones that way.” 

“ He piles un to pilot us and we comes huntin’ 
he,” suggested David. 

They took the next direction, and in due time 
discovered the round rock, the top of which they 
likewise cleared of snow that they might make 
quite certain it was the rock for which they were 
searching. Then, in due time, Jamie’s second pile 
of rocks and finally the birch tree were located. 

At the birch tree all clues were lost. Vainly they 


208 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

circled the surrounding country, firing rifles occa- 
sionally until they came to the edge of the marsh. 

“ We’d never be findin’ he on the mesh, if he 
gets out there,” suggested David. 

“ No,” agreed Doctor Joe, “ and there’s no rea- 
son to suppose that he crossed it to the other side.” 

“ That’s what I thinks,” said David. “ He’s 
somewheres this side of the mesh. He’d never 
cross un. He’d be knowin’ there’s no mesh be- 
tween here and camp.” 

“ He’d know ’twere not the way to camp,” de- 
clared Andy. “Jamie’d never be forgettin’ that 
he crosses no mesh cornin’ from camp however 
turned about he is. He’d never be so turned about 
as that.” 

“ We’ll search all the country, then, between this 
marsh and the brook,” suggested Doctor Joe. 

They could not know that Jamie, on the opposite 
side of the marsh, was at that moment in a snug 
shelter, and had been listening to their rifle shots, 
and supposing them to be the breaking of dead 
branches in the wind. Jamie was too small and 
too inexperienced to face and weather the storm 
on the marsh, unassisted, but Doctor Joe or David 
or even Andy might have crossed it. How often 
it happens that an obstacle that might be sur- 
mounted turns us back at the very door of suc- 
cess! 

Wearily they trailed back through the woods, 
and up and down until darkness finally forced 


SEARCHING THE WHITE WILDERNESS 209 


them to return to camp unsuccessful and heavy 
hearted. The younger lads were almost too weary 
to drag their feet behind them. They had eaten 
nothing since their early breakfast, but Seth and 
Micah, anxiously watching and hoping, had a hot 
supper of fried venison and bread and tea ready, 
and as soon as they had finished their meal, Doctor 
Joe directed that they go to bed and rest. 

Long before daybreak Doctor Joe was stirring. 
He lighted the fire, and when the kettle boiled 
roused David. Breakfast was ready when Andy 
awoke. 

“ Is you startin’ so early ? ” he asked rubbing 
his eyes. “ ’Tis wonderful early. We can’t see 
to travel till light with snow failin’.” 

“ Clear and fine outside!” said Doctor Joe. 
“ I’m not satisfied that Jamie didn’t cross the 
marsh. It’s likely to be a long hard tramp, and 
David and I are going alone this morning, because 
we can travel faster. If we don’t find Jamie by 
noon we’ll come back after you and the other lads. 
You’ll be fresh and rested then for the afternoon’s 
search. We can’t give it up till we find Jamie.” 

“ I’d be keepin’ up with you,” protested Andy. 

“ If you go we’ll have to take some of the 
others,” objected Doctor Joe. “ The snow is deep 
and they’ll not be able to travel as fast as we shall. 
Let us go alone and if we need you we’ll come for 
you.” 

And so it was arranged. 


210 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


Presently David and Doctor Joe set forth in 
the frosty starlit morning. They turned their steps 
toward the marsh, and were near its eastern border 
when David stopped and sniffed the air. 

“ I smell smoke ! ” he exclaimed eagerly. 

“Are you sure? ” asked Doctor Joe, also sniffing. 
“ I don’t smell it.” 

“ There’s a smell o’ smoke ! ” insisted David. 
“ The wind’s from the west’ard, and the smoke 
comes from over the mesh. There’s a fire some- 
wheres over there.” 

“ Your nose is keener than mine,” said Doctor 
Joe hopefully. “ Go ahead, Davy. We’ll see if 
you really smell smoke.” 

David led the way out upon the marsh, and they 
had gone but a short distance when Doctor Joe 
was quite sure that he, also, smelled smoke. David 
hurried on with Doctor Joe at his heels. 

“ There’s somebody movin’ ! ” exclaimed David 
presently. “Seeun? See un? ’Tis sure Jamie ! ” 

Then he ran and Doctor Joe ran, and thus they 
came upon the frightened Jamie, standing uncer- 
tainly before his lean-to. 


XX 


“ WOLVES ! ” YELLED ANDY 

" X AMIE! Jamie! We’ve been lookin’ and 
lookin’ for you ! ” shouted David, quite over- 
come with excitement and relief. 

“ I’m so glad ’tis you! ” exclaimed Jamie, tears 
springing to his eyes as he recognized Doctor Joe 
and David. “ I was scared ! ” 

“ Safe and sound as ever you could be, and all 
of us thinking you were lost under a snow-drift ! ” 
Doctor Joe in vast good humour slapped Jamie 
on the shoulder. “You gritty little rascal! I’ll 
never worry about you again! Here you are as 
able to take care of yourself as any man on The 
Labrador ! Come on now back to camp and we’ll 
hear all about your adventures when you’ve eaten. 
Are you hungry ? ” 

“ Wonderful hungry! ” admitted Jamie. 

“Aye, we’ll be makin’ haste, for Andy and the 
lads are sore worried,” said David. 

In single file, Doctor Joe and David tramping 
the trail for Jamie, they set out for camp. An 
hour later they crossed the brook, and with the 
first glimpse of the tents heard a shout of joy, as 
2 1 1 


212 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


Andy and the other lads discovered them and came 
running to meet them. 

While Jamie satisfied an accumulated appetite 
he answered no end of questions. Every one was 
vastly excited as he related the story of his experi- 
ence. 

“ ’Tweren’t Lem Horn’s silver they has after 
all,” Jamie declared. “ There were nothin’ in the 
cache but the bottles they drinks from, and they 
were thinkin’ a wonderful lot o’ them bottles.” 

David, in high indignation, was for setting out at 
once in search of the two lumbermen, but it was 
decided that they had doubtless already returned to 
the lumber camp. 

“ They’d probably say that they were only hav- 
ing sport with you, Jamie, and meant you no 
harm,” said Doctor Joe. “ The people over at 
their camp would believe them rather than a little 
Labrador lad. We may as well waste no time 
with them. We’ll leave them alone, and be thank- 
ful that Jamie is safe and well except for the 
burned wrists, and they’ll soon be cured.” 

“And we’ll be havin’ a fine time campin’ here,” 
agreed Jamie. “ I wants to keep clear o’ them men 
whatever.” 

It was a week later when they broke camp to 
return to The Jug, and when the visiting lads said 
good-bye and set sail to their homes across the Bay 
every one declared he had never had so good a 
time in all his life. 


“ WOLVES ! ” YELLED ANDY 


213 


With the coming of November the boats were 
hauled out of the water. The shores were already- 
crusted with ice and the temperature never rose to 
the thawing point even in the midday sun. The 
mighty Frost King had ascended his throne and 
was asserting his relentless power. Presently all 
the world would be kneeling at his feet. 

Buckskin moccasins with heavy blanket duffle 
socks of wool took the place of sealskin boots. 
The dry snow would not again soften to wet them 
until spring. The adiky, with its fur-trimmed 
hood, took the place of the jacket, soon to be 
augmented by sealskin netseks or caribou skin 
kulutuks. 

“ The Bay’s smokin’,” David announced one 
evening as he came in after feeding the dogs. 
“ She’ll soon freeze now.” 

In the days that followed the smoke haze hung 
over the water until, one morning, the Bay was 
fast, and the lapping of the waves was not to be 
heard again for many months. 

The nine sledge dogs were in fine fettle. Hand- 
some, big fellows they were, but fearsome and 
treacherous enough. They looked like sleek, fat 
wolves, and they were, indeed, but domesticated 
wolves. Friendly they seemed, but they were ever 
ready to take advantage of the helpless and un- 
wary, and their great white fangs were not above 
tearing their own master into shreds should he ever 
be so careless as to stumble and fall among them. 


214 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


The sledge was taken out and overhauled by 
David. It was fourteen feet long and two and 
one-half feet wide. Twenty cross-bars formed the 
top. Not a nail was used in its construction, for 
nails would not hold an hour on rough ice. Every- 
thing was bound with sealskin thongs. The sledge 
shoes were of iron. These David polished bright 
with sand, and then applied a coating of seal oil. 
Finally the harness and long sealskin traces were 
examined, and all was ready. 

It was the end of November when the Bay froze, 
but there was no certainty that travelling would be 
safe upon the sea ice beyond Fort Pelican before 
the beginning of January. Therefore Doctor Joe 
confined his visits to the Bay folk during Decem- 
ber, and on his first tour Andy served as driver 
with Jamie as passenger. 

The dogs were harnessed after the Eskimo 
fashion. That is to say, “ fan shape,” and not, as 
is customary in Alaska and among white men of 
the far northwest, in tandem. 

Leading from the komatik (sledge) in front was 
a single thong of sealskin with a loop on its end. 
This was called the “ bridle.” Each dog had an 
individual trace, its end passed through the loop in 
the bridle and securely tied. Tinker, the leading 
dog, was fully thirty-five feet from the komatik 
when his trace was stretched to its full length. He 
had the longest trace of all. He was trained to 
respond to shouted directions, turning to the right 


“ WOLVES ! ” YELLED ANDY 


215 


when “ ouk ” was called, or left for “ rudder,” the 
word being repeated several times by the driver 
in rapid succession. When it was desired that the 
dogs should stop “ ah ” was the order, and when 
they were to go forward “ ooisht,” or “ oksuit.” 
The other dogs followed Tinker like a pack of 
wolves follows the leader. The two dogs directly 
behind Tinker had traces of equal length, but some- 
what shorter, the pair behind them still shorter, 
and so on to the last pair. 

A long whip was used to keep them in sub- 
jection. This was of braided walrus hide an inch 
thick at its butt and tapering to a thin lash. To 
the butt was attached a short wooden handle a 
foot in length, to which was fastened a loop which 
was hooked over the protruding end of the forward 
cross-bar and the whip permitted to trail upon the 
ice when not in use, and at the same time it was 
always within the driver’s reach. 

The boys had practiced the manipulation of the 
whip all their lives. They could flick an inch 
square of ice at thirty feet with its tip. It was 
capable of a gentle tap, or the force of a pistol shot, 
at its wielder’s discretion. The whip was the terror 
of the team, for even at his distance Tinker, the 
leader, could be brought to account if he failed to 
do his duty or obey commands. 

There was little sickness in the Bay, and after 
patching up a lumberman at Grampus River, and 
providing some medicine for old Molly Budd’s 


216 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


rheumaticks, Andy and Jamie turned homeward 
with Doctor Joe. 

Near the mouth of Grampus River there was a 
section of “bad ice,” or ice that was not always 
safe to be crossed, the result doubtless of cross 
currents in the tide. To avoid this bad ice Andy 
followed the shore for a considerable distance be- 
fore turning northward for the twelve-mile run 
directly across the Bay to The Jug. 

It was a dull, cold, dreary day. The snow 
ground and squeaked under the sledge runners. 
Now and again a confusion of shore ridges ren- 
dered the hauling bad and the dogs lagged. 

They were midway between Grampus River and 
the place where they were to make the turn north- 
ward when Jamie warned: 

“ Look out, Andy ! The’s some loose dogs cornin’ 
out of the woods ! They’ll be fightin’ the team ! ” 

Six big beasts, larger even than Thomas Angus’s 
big dogs, were trotting out of the woods and upon 
the ice a hundred yards in advance. The team saw 
them, and with a howl rushed forward to the at- 
tack. 

“ Wolves ! ” yelled Andy. “ They’s wolves ! ” 

The wolves were free. The dogs were bound 
by harness, and thus fettered were no match for 
the big, wild creatures. Andy’s rifle was lashed 
upon the komatik. It was out of the question to 
free it in the moment before the wolves were upon 
them, and it was to be a hand-to-hand fight. 


XXI 


THE ALARM IN THE NIGHT 

T HE clash came instantly. The wolf pack 
was upon the dogs, and dogs and wolves 
were at once a howling, snarling, fighting 
mass. Great bared fangs gleamed and snapped. 
It was a fight to the death — a fight of the pri- 
mordial for the survival of the fittest 

The attack was launched with such indescribable 
suddenness that Doctor Joe and Jamie had scarcely 
time to drop from the komatik before it was be- 
gun. Andy had instinctively seized his whip and 
began to play it with every opening that offered. 
The first strike caught a big wolf across the eyes, 
and with howls of pain it immediately endeavoured 
to extricate itself from the fight. The lash had 
cut its eyes out and it was blind. 

With feverish haste Doctor Joe and Jamie 
undid the ax and rifle from the komatik, and 
Doctor Joe with the ax and Jamie with the rifle 
charged the fighting beasts. A lucky blow from 
the ax split a wolfs head. Jamie quickly found 
that to shoot at a distance he must take the risk 
of killing one of the dogs, but watching for an 
217 


218 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

opening, with the muzzle of the rifle within an 
inch of a big wolf’s body, fired and another wolf 
was disposed of. 

In the meantime Andy had been plying the whip 
with such precision that the foot of one of the 
wolves had been torn off and another wolf so badly 
lacerated that as it broke temporarily away Jamie 
dropped it with the rifle, and then shot the blind 
wolf which was now roaming aimlessly about. A 
stroke from Doctor Joe’s ax dispatched the fifth 
animal, and the remaining wolf, now at the mercy 
of the dogs, was literally torn into shreds. 

Hardly five minutes had elapsed from the mo- 
ment Jamie discovered the pack trotting out of 
the woods until the fight was ended. The attack 
had been made with such suddenness and such 
savage fierceness that Doctor Joe and the boys had 
scarcely uttered a word. 

Now there was the tangle of dogs to be 
straightened out, and Andy was compelled to use 
his whip to drive them from the dead wolves and 
quiet them. Hardly one of them had escaped in- 
jury from the wolf fangs, and Dick, a faithful 
old fellow, was so badly mangled that Andy cut 
him loose from the harness to follow the komatik 
home at his leisure. 

“ Dick’s too much hurt to do any hauling for a 
month whatever,” said Andy regretfully. 

“He won’t die, will he?” asked Jamie sympa- 
thetically. 



IT WAS DR. JOE BEYOND A DOUBT! 
























THE ALARM IN THE NIGHT 


219 


“ He’ll get over un,” Andy assured. 

“ The dogs had grit, now!” Jamie boasted. 
“ The’s nary a team in the Bay could have fought 
like that! ” 

“And I noticed you had some grit too,” said 
Doctor Joe. “A wolf’s fangs snapped within an 
inch of your leg, you young rascal, when you held 
the rifle against that fellow you shot.” 

“ I weren’t thinkin’ of that,” said Jamie. 

One of the pelts was so badly torn by the dogs 
as to be valueless. The remaining carcasses were 
skinned, and the skins lashed upon the sledge, and 
as they turned homeward Andy remarked : 

“ They’s five good skins and they’ll bring four 
dollars apiece whatever. ’Tweren’t a bad hunt 
when we weren’t huntin’.” 

“ You and Jamie can take the money you get 
for them and start a bank account,” suggested 
Doctor Joe. “ I’ll send it to St. Johns and put it in 
a bank for you, and then you’ll have that test com- 
pleted for both the second and first class. There’s 
no doubt you’ve earned it.” 

“Will you, sir? That’s fine now!” exclaimed 
Andy. “ Davy wasn’t with us, and he’ll have to 
set traps to earn his. But he’ll get a marten or 
two, whatever.” 

“ There’s no fear of David’s catching the mar- 
tens,” said Doctor Joe. “If there’s a marten 
around he’ll catch it.” 

It was dark when they reached The Jug. Mar- 


220 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


garet and David were quite excited when they 
heard the story of the adventure, and mighty 
pleased with its ending. 

“ ’Twere a stray pack,” said David, “ and they 
were hungry. Pop had a pack come at he that 
way once, but they just took one of the dogs and 
ran off.” 

A wonderful Christmas they had at The Jug 
that year. Doctor Joe had no end of surprises 
stowed away in mysterious boxes that he had 
brought from New York and deposited in his old 
cabin at Break Cove. He and David brought them 
over with the dogs on Christmas eve, and on 
Christmas morning they were opened. 

The one disappointment of the day was the 
failure of Thomas to be with them. He had 
suggested at the time he departed for the Seal Lake 
trails in the autumn that he might come out of the 
wilderness for additional provisions at Christmas 
time, but it was a long and tedious journey and 
they knew it was one he would hardly undertake 
unless pressed by need. 

Christmas holiday week was always one of 
celebration at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Post. 
At this time trappers and Indians emerged from 
the silent wilderness to barter their early catch of 
furs and to purchase fresh supplies; and on the 
day before New Year’s it was the custom of the 
men and women of the Bay to gather at the Post 
for the final festivities. All day long sledge load 


THE ALARM IN THE NIGHT 


221 


after sledge load of jolly folk appeared to take 
part in the great New Year’s eve dance, and to 
enter into the shooting contests and snow-shoe and 
other races on New Year’s day. 

Eli and Mark Horn drove their team in at The 
Jug just at dinner time on New Year’s eve, and 
Eli invited Margaret to go on with them and visit 
Kate Hodge, the daughter of the Post servant. 

“ We’ll be short of lasses at the dance, and we 
needs un all,” said Eli. 

“ I’d like wonderful well to go,” said Margaret 
wistfully. 

“ Go on,” urged Doctor Joe. “ You’ll have a 
good time and the boys and I will make out fa- 
mously here. You get away seldom enough and 
see too few people. ’Twill do you good, lass.” 

“Aye, come on now! ” Eli urged. “ We’ll take 
you over snug and warm in our komatik box. 
Kate’ll be wonderful glad to see you, and we’ll 
bring you back the day after New Year.” 

“ I’ll go,” Margaret consented, her eyes dancing 
with pleasure. 

“And there’ll be no prettier lass there,” said 
Doctor Joe gallantly, which brought a blush to 
Margaret’s cheek and caused Eli to chuckle. 

Margaret hastened her toilet and was ready in a 
jiffy. She was all aflutter with excitement when 
Eli tucked her in a box rigged on the rear of the 
komatik, and wrapped her snugly with caribou 
skins. 


222 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“You must have had it in mind to capture 
Margaret when you left home, Eli,” Doctor Joe 
suggested with a twinkle in his eye. “ Men don’t 
take travelling boxes when they go alone.” 

Eli grinned sheepishly as he broke the komatik 
loose, and the dogs dashed away. 

It was a dull cold day with a leaden sky, and 
snow was shifting restlessly over the ice. The 
wind was in the southeast, and as they entered the 
cabin David remarked: 

“ They’ll be snow before to-morrow marnin\” 

When they had eaten supper that evening and 
cleared the table David stepped out for a look at 
the weather, and returning reported: 

“ ’Twill be a nasty night. The snow’s started 
and the wind’s risin’. ’Tis wonderful frosty, too, 
for a wind.” 

“ Let’s see how cold it is,” said Doctor Joe, 
stepping out to consult his spirit thermometer. 
“ Thirty-eight below zero. Frosty enough with a 
gale, and a gale’s rising,” he reported. “ I’m glad 
we’re all snug inside.” 

“ Tell us a story,” Jamie suggested, as they set- 
tled themselves comfortably by the fire. 

“ They’s dogs cornin’ ! ” Andy broke in. 

David ran to the door, and a moment later 
ushered Eli Horn into the cabin. 

“ What’s the matter, Eli ? Has anything hap- 
pened?” asked Doctor Joe, immediately con- 
cerned for Margaret’s safety. 


THE ALARM IN THE NIGHT 


223 


“ Margaret’s safe,” said Eli with suppressed ex- 
citement. “ The’s murder at the Post ! ” 

Questions brought forth the fact that Eli and 
Margaret had reached the Post at about half-past 
three and found the people in confusion. Three 
lumbermen from Grampus River had come there. 
There had been a dispute among them and one of 
them was stabbed. The other two had immedi- 
ately departed, presumably to return to the lumber 
camps. Eli did not know how seriously the man 
was injured. He had not seen him. It had oc- 
curred shortly before his arrival, and at Mar- 
garet’s suggestion he had turned directly about 
and returned to The Jug to fetch Doctor Joe to 
attend the injured man. 

“ My dogs is fagged,” said Eli, “ and ’twere 
slow cornin’ back.” 

“ David will take me over with his dogs. 
They’re fresh, and will travel faster,” said Doctor 
Joe. 

In ten minutes David was ready with the dogs 
harnessed, and the two teams drove away into the 
darkness and storm. 

Andy and Jamie were greatly excited. Trag- 
edies enough happened up and down the coast when 
men were drowned or lost in the ice or met with 
fatal injuries. But never before in the Bay had 
one man been cut down by the hand of another. 
It was a ghastly thought, and the awfulness of it 
was perhaps accentuated by the snow dashing 


224 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 

against the window panes and the wind shrieking 
around the gables of the cabin. 

It was near ten o’clock, long past their usual bed- 
time, and they were still talking, for there was 
matter enough in their brains to banish sleep, 
when the door suddenly opened and accompanied 
by the howl of the wind a snow-covered figure 
lurched in upon them. 


XXII 


THE IMMUTABLE LAW OF GOD 

“T"\ETER! ’Tis Peter Sparks !” exclaimed 
r - * Andy with vast relief to find it was not a 
murderous lumberman. 

“ I’m cornin’ after Doctor Joe!” gasped Peter, 
as half frozen he drew off his snow-caked netsek. 

“ Me rub your nose, Peter. She’s froze, and 
your cheeks too,” broke in Andy, vigorously rub- 
bing Peter’s whitened nose and cheeks. 

Peter was silent perforce while Andy manipu- 
lated the frosted parts until circulation and colour 
were restored. 

“ Come to the fire now and warm up,” directed 
Andy. “ What you wantin’ of Doctor Joe? ” 

“ The’s been murder done, or dost to un ! ” 
Peter, at last free to articulate, continued. 
“ Murder at the lumber camp! ” 

“Murder!” repeated Jamie, awesomely. 

“ Aye, nigh to murder whatever ! ” Peter re- 
iterated. 

“ Doctor Joe’s gone to the Post,” said Andy. 
“ Eli Horn came for he. Two of the lumber folk 
most killed another of un over there. Davy took 
Doctor Joe over.” 


225 


226 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


“And two of un most killed the boss at the 
camp,” explained Peter. “ They conies there from 
the Post about six o'clock and were packin' a flat- 
sled with things. The boss asks un where they's 
goin'. They answers some way that makes he mad, 
and he hits one of un. Then they jumps at he and 
pounds and kicks he till he’s like dead, and he don't 
come to again. The two men has rifles and they 
keeps all the lumbermen back, and off they goes 
with the flatsled, and they gets away.” 

“Will the boss die then?” asked Jamie in 
horror. 

“ With Doctor Joe gone he’ll sure be dyin',” de- 
clared Peter desperately. “ His arm is broke and 
he's broke somewhere inside, and his face is awful 
to look at, all pounded and kicked and bleedin'. 
Me and Lige goes up to sit a bit and hear un tell 
their stories, and we gets there just after the two 
men gets away. With Doctor Joe's teachin' we 
fixes the boss up the best we can, and whilst Lige 
stays to help look after he, I comes for Doctor 
Joe. Pop's to the Post with the dogs and I has to 
walk, and facin' the wind 'twere hard. And now 
Doctor Joe’s gone, the poor man'll sure die! ” 

“ You has wonderful grit to come! ” said Jamie 
admiringly. “ 'Tis wonderful frosty and nasty 
outside.” 

“ 'Twere to save the boss’s life! ’Tis the scout 
law,” Peter asserted stoutly. “ I'll be goin’ to the 
Post now for Doctor Joe.” 


THE IMMUTABLE LAW OF GOD 227 


“ You’re nigh done up, Peter. You’ll be stayin’ 
here with Jamie. Ym goin’ to the Post for Doctor 
Joe,” declared Andy. 

“ I am most done up,” Peter confessed. “ But 
the wind’ll be in your back goin’ to the Post. 
She’s just startin’ though, and she’ll be a wonder- 
ful sight worse than she is now before you gets 
there. ’Twill be terrible nasty.” 

“ I’m goin’ too,” said Jamie. 

“ You’re not goin’,” said Andy. “ I’m bigger 
and I can travel faster if you’re not cornin’. 
’Twould be wrong to leave Peter here alone.” 

“ I’m goin'! " repeated Jamie stubbornly. 

“ Won’t you be stayin’ with me? ” plead Peter. 
“ I — I’m afeard to stay here alone with those two 
men like to come in on me.” 

“ I’ll stay,” Jamie consented. 

A blast of wind shook the cabin. 

“ I’m fearin’ you can’t make un, Andy ! ’Twill 
soon be too much for flesh and blood out on the 
Bay ! ” said Peter. 

“ ’Tis in my scout oath to do my best,” said 
Andy, adjusting the hood of his sealskin netsek. 
“ I’m goin’, now.” 

Andy closed the door behind him. It was pitchy 
dark. The snow was driving in blinding clouds, 
and he stood for a moment to catch his breath. 
Then he felt his way down across The Jug and out 
upon the Bay ice. Here the full force of the north- 
east blizzard met him. He staggered and choked 


228 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABEADOE 


with the first blast, then in a temporary lull forged 
ahead. 

The storm, as Peter predicted, had not reached 
its height. Each smothering blast of fury was 
stronger and fiercer than the one before it. Andy 
took advantage of the lulls, and save when the 
heavier blasts came and nearly swept him from 
his feet, maintained a steady trot. In the swirl of 
snow-clouds he could see nothing a foot from his 
nose. Once he found himself floundering through 
pressure ridges formed by the tide near shore. 
This he calculated was the tip of a long point 
jutting out into the Bay, half-way between The 
Jug and the Post. Ten miles of the distance was 
behind him. He drew farther out upon the ice. 

There were times when Andy had to throw him- 
self prone upon the ice with his face down and 
sheltered by his arms to escape suffocation. 

“ ’Tis gettin’ wonderful nasty,” he said, “ but 
I’ll have plenty o’ grit, like Jamie says, and with 
the Lard’s help I’ll pull through.” 

Then he found himself repeating over and over 
again the prayer: 

“ Dear Lard, help me through ! ’Tis to save a 
life, and the scout oath! Dear Lard, help me 
through ! ” 

The gale had now risen to such terrific propor- 
tions that often he was compelled to crawl upon 
his hands and knees. With each momentary lull 
he would rise and stagger forward. Hist legs 


THE IMMUTABLE LAW OE GOD 229 


worked at these times without conscious effort. 
It was strange his legs should be like that. They 
had never felt like that before. 

And so, crawling, staggering upright, crawling 
again, and lying for minutes at a time with his 
face in his arms that he might breathe when he was 
well-nigh overwhelmed and suffocated, Andy kept 
on. 

He could recall little of the last hours on the 
ice. It was a confused sensation of rising and fall- 
ing, staggering and crawling until he collided with 
an obstruction, and recognizing it as the jetty at 
the Post, his brain roused to a degree of conscious- 
ness, and his heart leaped with joy. 

With much fumbling he succeeded in donning 
his snow-shoes, which were slung upon his back, 
for the twenty yards that lay between the ice and 
the buildings was covered with deep drift. Once 
he stepped upon a dog that lay huddled and sleep- 
ing under the drift. It sprang out with a snarl 
and snapped at his legs. A hundred of the savage 
creatures were lying about in the snow. 

Day comes late in Labrador. It was still pitchy 
dark outside when Andy, at eight o'clock in the 
morning, lurched into' the kitchen at the Post 
house, and fell sprawling upon the floor. He had 
been battling the storm for ten hours. 

David and Margaret, Eli and Mark and several 
others were there. Doctor Joe was at breakfast in 
the Factor's quarters, and they called him. Andy's 


230 TROOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


face was covered with a mass of caked snow and 
ice. His nose and cheeks and chin were white and 
badly frosted, and upon removing his mittens and 
moccasins, his hands and feet were found to be in 
the same condition. 

Mr. MacCreary, the factor, placed a bed at 
Doctor Joe’s disposal, and when the frost had been 
removed and circulation had been restored, Andy 
was tucked into warm blankets. 

“ That chap had grit,” remarked Mr. MacCreary 
as he and Doctor Joe left David and Margaret by 
the bedside and Andy asleep. “ The Angus boys 
are all gritty fellows. They’re the sort the Com- 
pany needs.” 

“ Yes,” Doctor Joe agreed heartily, “ and they 
never shirk their duty. Andy is a boy scout, 
and he did what he considered his duty. Now I 
must go to the lumber camp and fix up that boss, 
if he isn’t beyond fixing up.” 

With the coming of dawn the wind subsided and 
the snow ceased to fall. Eli harnessed his dogs 
when it was light, and with the lumberman who 
had been stabbed, but whose injuries were not 
after all serious, he and Doctor Joe set out for 
Grampus River. 

At the lumber camp they found Lige Sparks, 
Obadiah Button and Micah Dunk installed as vol- 
unteer nurses. The man had a broken arm, three 
broken ribs, and had suffered internal injuries that 
demanded prompt attention. 


THE IMMUTABLE LAW OP GOD 231 


“ If Andy hadn’t come for me, and if I’d been 
delayed much longer in reaching the camp,” said 
Doctor Joe later, “ the man would have died. 
Thanks to the boys, his life will be saved.” 

That day and that night Doctor Joe remained 
with his patient. On the following morning it be- 
came necessary for him to return to The Jug for 
additional dressings and medicines. Eli drove him 
over. 

The sky was clear, and the morning was bitterly 
cold, with rime hanging like a filmy veil in the air 
and glistening like flakes of silver in the sunshine. 
Doctor Joe and Eli ran in turns by the side of the 
komatik, while the dogs trotted briskly. 

“ What’s that, now ? ” asked Eli, pointing to a 
black object far out on the white field of ice, as 
they approached The Jug. 

“ I can’t make out,” said Doctor Joe after a long 
scrutiny. 

“ We’ll see,” and Eli turned the dogs toward 
the object. 

“ It looks like a flatsled,” said Doctor Joe as 
they approached. 

“ ’Tis a flatsled,” said Eli. “ ’Tis the men ran 
away from the lumber camp.” 

A gruesome sight met them as Eli brought the 
dogs to a stop. Huddled close and lying by the 
side of the toboggan, partially covered by drift, 
were the stiff-frozen bodies of two men. 

“They were lost in the storm,” said Eli pres- 


232 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


ently. “ They must have been wanderin' about 
till the frost got the best of un.” 

Doctor Joe and Eli lifted the remains to the 
komatik, and attached the toboggan to trail behind, 
and with their ghastly burden turned in at The 
Jug. 

Jamie and Peter, vastly concerned for Andy’s 
safety, met them, and were as vastly relieved when 
they learned that Andy would be not much the 
worse for his experience, and that the lumber boss 
would live. 

The two bodies were carried into the wood- 
shed and laid side by side upon the floor, to remain 
there until evening, when Doctor Joe and Eli would 
return them to Grampus River for burial. It was 
then that Jamie looked for the first time upon the 
upturned dead faces, and as he did so he exclaimed, 
with horror: 

“ They’s the men ! They’s the men that had the 
cache and tied me up ! ” 

“ They’ve been hard men in life and probably 
done much evil in their day, but they’re past it 
now and we’ll treat their remains gently and hu- 
manly,” said Doctor Joe as he covered their faces 
with a cloth. 

Then they undid the flatsled and carried the con- 
tents into the cabin, where the things would be safe 
from the dogs. There were provisions, a bag of 
clothing, two thirty-eight calibre rifles, a quantity 
of ammunition and a small bag, which Jamie de- 


THE IMMUTABLE LAW OP GOD 233 

dared was the bag which had been cached in the 
tree. 

“ I’m goin’ to look at un, ,, said Eli. “ ’Twill do 
no harm.” 

Eli undid the bag and drew forth a package 
which proved to contain a large roll of bills, 
amounting to several hundred dollars. Then fol- 
lowed two marten pelts, a red fox pelt, and the pelt 
of a beautiful silver fox. Eli shook the silver fox 
pelt, and holding it up examined it critically. 

“ ’Tis Pop’s silver! ” he exclaimed. 

“ Are you sure? ” asked Doctor Joe. 

“ ’Tis Pop’s silver ! I’d know un anywheres ! ” 
declared Eli positively. 

“ Then,” said Doctor Joe, “ it was not Indian 
Jake but these men who shot your father and stole 
the fur.” 

“ And stole our boat ! ” Jamie broke in excitedly. 

“ ’Twere they stole the silver,” Eli admitted, 
“ and the Lard punished un. I’m wonderful glad 
my bullet went abroad and didn’t hurt Indian 
Jake.” 

“We all thought Indian Jake guilty,” said Doc- 
tor Joe. “ How easy it is to pass judgment on 
people, and how often we misjudge them.” 

“ And knowin’ he didn’t take un, and after I’d 
tried to kill he,” went on Eli contritely, “ he were 
wonderful good to me havin’ me bide to supper and 
givin’ me deer’s meat.” 

“I’m rememberin’,” broke in Jamie, “that the 


234 TEOOP ONE OF THE LABRADOR 


men were talkin’ o’ somethin’ they were takin* 
from the ship, and fearin’ the lumber boss would 
find out about un. ’Twere the money they means.” 

There was a howl of arriving dogs outside, and 
Jamie rushed to the door to meet David and Andy 
and Margaret, and, to his unbounded delight, 
Thomas and Indian Jake. 

While Thomas was being overwhelmed by 
Jamie, Indian Jake with a broad grin extended his 
hand to Eli. 

“ How do, Eli?” 

“ How do, Jake? ” Eli took Indian Jake’s hand. 
“ I got the silver back, Jake, and you never took 
un. I’m wonderful sorry the way I done.” 

“ I’ve got your ca’tredges here, Eli,” grinned 
Indian Jake. “ You can have un back now.” 

“But didn’t Andy have grit, now!” Jamie’s 
voice rose above the babel. “ Didn’t he have grit 
to go out in the night when ’twas that nasty ! And 
a stout heart, too, like a man! Andy’s a wonder- 
ful fine scout, whatever ! ” 

And so ended the mystery of the shooting and 
the robbery of Lem Horn, and so the guilty were 
discovered and punished, as in some manner and at 
some time all wrong-doers are discovered and pun- 
ished. It is the immutable law of God. 

•7 05 

Printed in thb United States of America 


























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